Publications

Virtual Reality (VR) is an immersive technology, which transports the user to a three-dimensional ‘virtual world’ and is increasingly used as an innovative treatment modality in various aspects of healthcare. The use of immersive VR in the management of musculoskeletal conditions is relatively new and research is required to demonstrate its effectiveness in this field.

"From the moment we set our first steps we practise walking until it eventually becomessecond nature.
However, due to injury, illness, or disease, someone might lose control over this automated task. In
these cases, physical therapy is often used to help restore a patient’s use of muscles and train a new
automatic walking pattern. "

"A significant proportion of stroke patients experience poor trunk control (1), which is highly associated with decreased gait ability and difficulty with activities of daily living (2). Moreover, impaired trunk stability and sitting balance affects the safety of performing daily life activities. Trunk stability is therefore an important goal in functional rehabilitation care (3)."

"Phantom limb pain (PLP) is a deteriorating condition that can greatly diminish quality of life. A novel treatment has been developed to relieve the PLP. The Phantom Motor Execution (PME) program uses augmented reality to treat PLP."

"The aim of our study is the implementation of the virtual reality (VR) therapeutic stimuli from VR-Traveller to a functional magnetic resonance (fMRI) environment with the goal to monitor the effects of therapy in the brains of young patients with cognitive deficits. VR-Traveller is a comprehensive VR therapy program focused on treatment of visual attention and of working memory."

"In the current work, we present a VR platform for neuro-cognitive studies, using which research
teams and medical staff can implement specific applications for research and practice in several
different rehabilitation use cases."

"Chronic pain is debilitating, prevalent and one of the most prominent causes of disability worldwide. Current non-pharmacological treatments for pain conditions such as Fibromyalgia Syndrome (FMS) are labour intensive to implement and not widely available, especially during the pandemic."

"The Digitalization is leading AECM (Architecture Engineering Construction and Manufacturing) sectors to interact more and more with tools that allow it to autonomously optimize the iterations and design choices: this is perfectly represented also in Training and Simulations sector."

"Intervention programmes for children and young people (CYP) with motor disorders often require extensive repetition of exercises which some CYP find tedious or difficult to adhere to. This study investigated how provision of virtual interfacing access to commercially produced Virtual Reality (VR) games via affordable technologies can provide a motivating enviroment for the practice of therapeutic activities."

"Effective interventions to promote upper-limb recovery post-stroke are characterised by intensive and repetitive movements. It is reported that stroke survivors move their arm an average of 32 times per therapy session; this is insufficient to drive neuroplastic change."

"Poor arm recovery post-stroke can lead to increased dependence, reduced quality of life, and is a strong predictor of lower psychological wellbeing following stroke. Effective treatment interventions are characterised by repetitive practice. "

"People worldwide are currently in need of prostheses solutions to replace upper limbs due to genetic
malformation, war related trauma or occupational accidents. For upper limb amputees, a prosthetic hand is
one option for a , productive, independent life and enables participation in education, the labour market
and social life. "

"Globally, low back pain (LBP) is a common symptom across all age groups. Years lived with disability
caused by LBP increased by 54% between 1990 and 2015, due to a growing and ageing population1,2
.
Annually, 2000 patients with LBP are referred to the Sint Maartenskliniek near Nijmegen, a hospital
specialized in care for posture and movement."

"After stroke, people often experience difficulties with walking leading to restrictions in participation in daily life. The aim of this study was to examine the effect of virtual reality gait training (VRT) compared to non-virtual reality gait training (non-VRT) on participation in community-living people after stroke."

"Post-COVID-19 patients, including those not admitted to hospital, are expected to have high needs for physical, psychological, and cognitive rehabilitation (long COVID) [1]. Resources needed to provide rehabilitation treatment are expected to be inadequate [2].."

"21,2% of the Dutch population is suffering from chronic low-back pain. Chronic pain often negatively affects quality of life, mobility, and activities of daily living of these patients. Current chronic pain treatment, mostly via NSAIDs, is often inadequate [1]."

"The introduction of consumer-grade virtual reality (VR) headsets has led to new and engaging methods
for physical rehabilitation. Not only does VR provide the means to bring everyday situations into the
rehabilitation therapy, and thereby help their transition into rehabilitation throughout everyday life
after therapy, it also allows patients to practise independent from time and place."

"Virtual reality (VR) is a popular pediatric rehabilitation intervention. However, much remains to be
understood about the impact of child-specific (e.g., motivation, engagement, and cognitive
workload) and task-specific (e.g. immersive vs non-immersive viewing medium) influences on motor
learning and transfer in VR."