What is it about?

Physical rehabilitation is often an intensive process that presents many challenges, including a lack of engagement, accessibility, and personalization. Immersive media systems enhanced with physical and emotional intelligence can address these challenges. This review paper links immersive virtual reality with the concepts of therapy, human behavior, and biofeedback to provide a high-level overview of health applications with a particular emphasis on physical rehabilitation. We examine each of these crucial areas by reviewing some of the most influential published case studies and theories while also considering their limitations. Lastly, we bridge our review by proposing a theoretical framework for future systems that utilizes various synergies between each of these fields.

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Why is it important?

If the sensation of physical reality can be simulated through computation, how might that reality best help the user with exercises and physical rehabilitation? In this paper, we explore these questions by reviewing immersive virtual reality as it intersects the fields of therapy, human behavior, and biofeedback. We bridge our review by proposing a theoretical framework for future research that utilizes various synergies between each of these fields.

Perspectives

Immersive media affords a medium for enhancing the therapy and healthcare process. It establishes a mode for understanding human behavior, simulating perception, and providing physical assistance. Biofeedback provides a methodology for evaluating emotional response, a crucial element of mental health that is not often explored in healthcare. From these mediums, we present an augmentation of Sutherland's Ultimate Display to address a key area for healthcare: an intelligent perspective of how to best assist a user in performing physical therapy.

Aviv Elor
University of California, Santa Cruz

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This page is a summary of: The Ultimate Display for Physical Rehabilitation: A Bridging Review on Immersive Virtual Reality, Frontiers in Virtual Reality, November 2020, Frontiers,
DOI: 10.3389/frvir.2020.585993.
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