Commercial VR products are designed with high-level gaming methods to engage participants in the games and offer potential as therapeutic adjuncts to gain appropriate practice of sufficient intensity and duration but may need some adjustments.
VR4REHAB successfully announces the set up of VR4REHAB-MOT in a participants’ home. The first two patients, children with CP will start the trial today with a Home-School based VR system trial.
Children and young people with movement difficulties such as Cerebral Palsy (CP) and Acquired Brain Injury (ABI) report that traditional therapies are highly repetitive and labourious. This influences enjoyment and participation in regular therapy programmes and may result in reduced adherence to therapy or exercise regimes, limiting effectiveness.
VR4REHAB explores the potential use of Virtual-Reality (VR) technologies in rehabilitation; particularly systems that can be used at home to increase accessibility and reduce the need to attend clinics for therapy. During the co-production events of the VR4REHAB Inter Regional North West Europe (NWE) funded programme in 2018, young people desired the use of commercial games for therapeutic purposes. This work has enabled connections between affordable computer technologies: the Raspberry Pi, VR headsets, and freely available commercial games.
