Don’t forget to visit the Physiopedia stand at ER-WCPT this November, we’ll have some VR for you to try!
AppliedVR is a company which is utilising VR tech to help patients manage pain and anxiety and physiotherapists have been directly involved with its development. The game involves you being attacked by creepy teddy bears and dispatching them with a cannon in a simplistic and fun way. This reduces and anxiety and stress whilst taking n the peaceful serene surroundings.
Hospitals and clinics tend not to be peaceful and serene and have a problem with infection control. To contend this the company has adapted the samsung gear it is based on to meet this need optimizing it for any environment. This is in keeping with AppliedVRs ultimate goal of being the leaders for validated therapeutic VR content. Interestingly one area they are looking into is Autism.
Particularly with the Autism, anxiety and pain patient groups adoption to new methods can be challenging and htis has been considered. Education and explanation is part of the AppliedVR strategy with workflow training materials and adoption has been proven to be improving. Although this considered the initial uptake in studies has been only 33%.
This 1/3 uptake rate may well improve with individual and personalised VR which surely won’t be too far around the corner, combined with augmented reality, again this is likely to continue to improve as the options diverse.
Do you use AR or VR already? Let us know your thoughts.