VR systems which enable wheelchair users to navigate a virtual world

Assistive technology is often thought of as being wheelchairs and hearing aids, but actually it’s an umbrella term that covers everything from pencil grips to the latest VR Headsets.

The technology we see used on a daily basis can be used differently to help the lives of disabled people.

In rehabilitation settings,VR aims to improve motor skills and aiding muscle recovery in a noninvasive, safe way. In fact, research has already started to back-up virtual reality as a successful treatment method.

In one study, stroke patients who underwent virtual reality rehab experienced more improvements in arm and hand movement compared to conventional rehab after four weeks of therapy.

In the months following the study, doctors found that VR patients continued to have better mobility than the non-VR patients. Other research has shown similarly successful outcomes for patients with cerebral palsy undergoing rehab for balance problems.

Professor of physical therapy at Temple University in Philadelphia Emily Keshner says “using VR, I can control what’s going on around the patient and measure what kind of impact it’s having on that patient’s ability to change. We expose them to this repeatedly and we give them feedback about how they can respond to prevent themselves from falling”.

In another study published in Scientific Reports, eight participants who have had a spinal cord injury for at least three years were subjected to long-term training which included virtual reality. All eight of the patients who participated in the study have gained some motor control and 50% of these patients were upgraded to an incomplete paraplegia classification.

The end results were achieved firstly by placing the participants in a virtual reality environment using an

The patients also wore a specially-designed t-shirt which provided haptic feedback to the patients’ forearms, stimulating the sensation of touching the ground. The arms were treated as phantom legs and would fool the brain into feeling like the patient was walking while they moved their arms.