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Virtual reality, meet your new physical therapist

The founder and CEO of Eran Orr said, the company has all of its programs registered with the FDA.

Not all programs offered for VR rehab are games; Some clinics allow the patient to practice real-life skills, which may cause them trouble shopping grocery shopping or dishwashing.

To truly advance the use of virtual reality for physical and occupational therapy, “we will need to build a body of evidence that shows how it is effective, how we pay for it and how we pay it. How to develop one that is easy to use ”Matthew Stud, chief executive and a founder of Applied VR, which supplies therapeutic virtual reality. “We need to be able to demonstrate that we can reduce the cost of care, not just add to the cost paradigm.”

Although research in particular on the use of VR in physical and occupational therapy is at an early stage, an analysis of 27 studies, Matt C. Organized by Howard, an assistant professor of marketing and quantitative methods at the University of South Alabama, found that VR therapy is, in general, more effective than traditional programs.

“Does this mean VR is better for everything? Absolutely not,” he said in an interview. “And we still don’t know a lot about VR rehab.”

The majority of research uses small samples to varying degrees, and there is a need to study more about how a patient’s activity in the virtual world changes to better performance in the physical world, in the Department of Physiotherapy Said Danielle Levak, an assistant professor. Movement and Rehabilitation Sciences at Northeastern University. Professor Levak conducts rational research to use virtual reality systems in pediatric rehabilitation; Many of the children she works with have cerebral palsy.

“We have to consider the lack of one-on-one contact with the physician,” she said. “I see VR as a tool that has a lot of potential, but we should keep in mind that it should fit – and not replace – a holistic program of care.”