Thursday, September 25, 2014

Survey of VR Clinical Use

Survey

Using Virtual Reality in Clinical Practice: A Multi-Site Exploratory Study
Glegg, M. N. S., Holsti, L., Stanton, S., Hanna, S., Velikonja, D., Ansley, B., Sartor, D. & Brum, C.
NeuroRehabilitation : 2014 Sep 18 pg
DOI: 10:3233/NRE-141152

Link to abstract: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25238866

Objective: For inpatients with acquired brain injury, how is GestureTek virtual reality used for rehabilitation?

Method: 11 therapists at two rehab centres collected data over 8 months on 39 clients; their VR interventions and the therapists’ treatment goals.

Findings and conclusions: Clinical “treatment characteristics and several outcomes of interest paralleled those in the literature; however, novel outcome areas were identified as research gaps. By study’s end, more than half of clients’ VR programs had been discontinued, for reasons consistent with documented barriers to VR use. These findings can help… inform the design of research that has high clinical relevance, and… provide a point of reference for clinicians incorporating VR into their practices.”

Friday, September 5, 2014

Virtual reality conference



10th International Conference on Disability, Virtual Reality and Associated Technologies Gothenburg, Sweden, September 2–4, 2014

Sponsored by the International Society for Virtual Rehabilitation
The society provides a multidisciplinary forum for engineers, scientists and clinicians who are interested in employing new technologies for physical, psychological, cognitive, and social rehabilitation applications. The purposes of the society… are to promote discussion of key issues & encourage clarity in research paradigms, devise a common reference set of terminology / standards / definitions, create opportunities for collaboration and networking, represent the community with respect to funding, government policies, consumer groups and… provide recognition through awards for exceptional member activities."

Conference Presentations: www.icdvrat.org/2014/schedule2014_outline.htm
Abstracts: www.icdvrat.reading.ac.uk/2014/abstracts.htm

Pilot Study
Of  Note: Kinecting the moves: the kinematic potential of rehabilitation-specific gaming to inform treatment for hemiplegia
Glegg, S. M. N., Hung, C. T., Valdés, B. A., Kim, B. D. G. & Van der Loos, H. F. M.

"Two therapy applications for hemiplegic arm rehabilitation were developed and tested… Analysis of data provided by commercially available motion tracking technology could serve as an additional rehabilitation tool for therapists."

Abstract: www.icdvrat.reading.ac.uk/2014/papers/ICDVRAT2014_SP06_Glegg_Hung_etal.pdf
Full Text: caris.mech.ubc.ca/files/2014/08/Kinecting-the-Moves-The-kinematic-potential-of-rehab-ICDVRAT2014.pdf"