Immersive virtual reality for upper limb rehabilitation following stroke

Approximately 80% of people who sustain a stroke survive and although most people regain their ability to walk, 30 - 66% of survivors are no longer able to use the affected arm. Early intensive practice of active functional tasks in an enriched environment can lead to more positive outcomes for upper limb rehabilitation. One way in which practice intensity and multimodal feedback can be manipulated to retrain movement in the upper limb is through immersive virtual reality (VR) technology. This paper describes an immersive VR system which is both patient and operator-focused. The goals of the research are firstly to ascertain whether VR can improve patient rehabilitation over traditional methods and secondly to evaluate the usability of the system for rehabilitation professionals. Results suggests that patients respond well to the system and that careful design can lead to a VR system capable of everyday use by non-computing professionals.