Vestibular Rehabilitation Therapy Using Virtual Reality
The XR Lab team is working with Jefferson vestibular therapists to develop and assess ways to use virtual reality (VR) in vestibular therapy. Vestibular therapy helps patients with dizziness, vertigo, and imbalance issues overcome these problems through various activities in the clinic. These are intended to mimic real-life scenarios that patients experience every day. However, there is often a disconnect between these abstract activities and a patient’s everyday life.
Our team is designing two modules that will bridge the gap between in-clinic rehabilitation sessions and the real world. Our goal is to use the immersive nature of VR to engage patients with their treatment and create a tool that appeals to a wide variety of providers.
Opportunity
During a vestibular rehab appointment, patients may be asked to focus on a target on a wall while a disco ball projects dancing lights across the surface. This way, patients can practice tracking important objects while experiencing distracting visual stimuli, such as looking at a street sign while traffic goes by. However, a disco ball may not be as intimidating as real cars speeding down the road. For this reason, the Jefferson vestibular therapists approached our team to help create a tool that could be used in-clinic and help patients acclimate to their normal life. The VR modules will be a safe, virtual environment that clinicians can adjust to each patient’s needs.
In implementing these tools for patients, research is required to validate the effectiveness and safety of therapeutic applications. Our team recognizes the importance of fully understanding the possibilities and limitations of this new technology. Currently, limited but promising literature exists to support the use of VR in vestibular therapy. Through the exploratory nature of this project, we plan to inform future considerations when utilizing VR in this space.
Challenges
Vestibular therapy disorders come in many shapes and sizes with a multitude of symptoms and severities. The causes of these disorders are also incredibly varied. This means that each patient has different needs and abilities for their providers to consider during treatment. One of our main concerns in building these VR modules is making sure that they can be applied to as many clinically approved patients as possible. Additionally, the patient-provider relationship is an incredibly important part of therapy. Any tool we introduce needs to protect this relationship so both patients and their therapists feel like part of the activity.
Vision and Value
Currently, there are a limited number of tools available for vestibular therapists, so providers must be creative in how they approach therapy. To address the challenges mentioned above, we are designing two VR modules that are customizable to each patient’s needs. Patients rely on their clinicians to get back to their day-to-day living. VR has the potential to help patients take that next step — and to aid their providers in getting them there.
The modules will address two of the most critical parts of vestibular therapy treatment: sensory input and range-of-motion exercises. We worked with our providers to decide on scenarios that would naturally address these issues in contexts common to their patients. For many patients, everyday activities like getting coffee with a friend are difficult. We hope that these modules will bridge the gap between disco balls and actually sitting down in a busy café.
For the providers, we want to ensure their complete control over the situation. Our vision is to incorporate controls into a companion tablet so that the vestibular therapist can adjust the virtual environment for each session, based on an individual patient’s needs. These could be modifications such as changing how many visual elements are in a scene or what tasks need to be completed.
Additionally, to make sure that patients do not feel isolated while wearing a VR headset, our platform will provide a “mirroring” function. Essentially, the therapist will be able to see what the patient sees in real-time on a tablet. They will be able to make adjustments as needed and help direct patients through their tasks. This will allow the VR scenarios to integrate into rehabilitation sessions just like any other exercise.
By giving patients a set of scalable challenges and by giving providers a way to track their progression, we believe that patients may feel more confident when getting back to their normal lives. This project has the potential to improve patient outcomes, help providers standardize their therapy, and speed up the vestibular rehab process.
About the XR Lab
The XR Lab at The DICE Group is a multidisciplinary team passionate about transforming healthcare and education through immersive technology. They believe that XR should be easily accessible to everyone and that it has the potential to transform the healthcare experience.
Interested in this intersection of VR, vestibular therapy, and patient experience? Want to support this project? Contact us anytime ARVR@jefferson.edu. Subject: VT.
