Virtual Reality for Physical and Motor Rehabilitation


Book Description

While virtual reality (VR) has influenced fields as varied as gaming, archaeology and the visual arts, some of its most promising applications come from the health sector. Particularly encouraging are the many uses of VR in supporting the recovery of motor skills following accident or illness. Virtual Reality for Physical and Motor Rehabilitation reviews two decades of progress and anticipates advances to come. It offers current research on the capacity of VR to evaluate, address, and reduce motor skill limitations and the use of VR to support motor and sensorimotor function, from the most basic to the most sophisticated skill levels. Expert scientists and clinicians explain how the brain organizes motor behavior, relate therapeutic objectives to client goals and differentiate among VR platforms in engaging the production of movement and balance. On the practical side, contributors demonstrate that VR complements existing therapies across various conditions such as neurodegenerative diseases, traumatic brain injury and stroke. Included among the topics: Neuroplasticity and virtual reality. Vision and perception in virtual reality. Sensorimotor recalibration in virtual environments. Rehabilitative applications using VR for residual impairments following stroke. VR reveals mechanisms of balance and locomotor impairments. Applications of VR technologies for childhood disabilities. A resource of great immediate and future utility, Virtual Reality for Physical and Motor Rehabilitation distills a dynamic field to aid the work of neuropsychologists, rehabilitation specialists (including physical, speech, vocational and occupational therapists), and neurologists.







Human Walking in Virtual Environments


Book Description

This book presents a survey of past and recent developments on human walking in virtual environments with an emphasis on human self-motion perception, the multisensory nature of experiences of walking, conceptual design approaches, current technologies, and applications. The use of Virtual Reality and movement simulation systems is becoming increasingly popular and more accessible to a wide variety of research fields and applications. While, in the past, simulation technologies have focused on developing realistic, interactive visual environments, it is becoming increasingly obvious that our everyday interactions are highly multisensory. Therefore, investigators are beginning to understand the critical importance of developing and validating locomotor interfaces that can allow for realistic, natural behaviours. The book aims to present an overview of what is currently understood about human perception and performance when moving in virtual environments and to situate it relative to the broader scientific and engineering literature on human locomotion and locomotion interfaces. The contents include scientific background and recent empirical findings related to biomechanics, self-motion perception, and physical interactions. The book also discusses conceptual approaches to multimodal sensing, display systems, and interaction for walking in real and virtual environments. Finally, it will present current and emerging applications in areas such as gait and posture rehabilitation, gaming, sports, and architectural design.




Physical Therapy for Children - E-Book


Book Description

Used as both a core textbook in PT programs and as a clinical reference, Physical Therapy for Children, 4th Edition, provides the essential information needed by PTs, both student and professional, when working with children. Like the previous bestselling editions, the 4th edition follows the practice pattern categories of the Guide to Physical Therapist Practice and uses the IFC model of the disabling process as it presents up-to-date evidence-based coverage of treatment. In this latest edition, Suzann Campbell DeLapp, Robert J. Palisano, and Margo N. Orlin have added more case studies and video clips, additional chapters and Medline-linked references online, and Evidence to Practice boxes to make it easy to find and remember important information. Provides comprehensive foundational knowledge in decision making, screening, development, motor control, and motor learning, the impairments of body function and structure, and the PT management of pediatric disorders. Reflects a family-centered care model throughout to help you understand how to involve children and their caregivers in developing and implementing intervention plans. Emphasizes an evidence-based approach that incorporates the latest research for the best outcomes. Follows the practice pattern guidelines of the Guide to Physical Therapist Practice, 2nd Edition which sets the standard for physical therapy practice. Features the International Classification of Function, Disability, and Health (ICF) of the World Health Organization (WHO) as the model for the disabling process, emphasizing activity rather than functional limitations and participation rather than disability in keeping with the book’s focus on prevention of disability. Provides extensive case studies that show the practical application of material covered in the text and are often accompanied by online video clips illustrating the condition and its management. Makes it easy to access key information with plenty of tables and boxes that organize and summarize important points. Clearly demonstrates important concepts and clinical conditions you’ll encounter in practice with over 800 illustrations. Takes learning to a deeper level with additional resources on the Evolve website featuring: Over 40 video clips that correspond to case studies and demonstrate conditions found in each chapter Helpful resources, including web links Questions and exercises you’ll find helpful when preparing for the pediatric specialist certification exam




Converging Clinical and Engineering Research on Neurorehabilitation IV


Book Description

The book reports on advanced topics in the areas of neurorehabilitation research and practice. It focuses on new methods for interfacing the human nervous system with electronic and mechatronic systems to restore or compensate impaired neural functions. Importantly, the book merges different perspectives, such as the clinical, neurophysiological, and bioengineering ones, to promote, feed and encourage collaborations between clinicians, neuroscientists and engineers. Based on the 2020 International Conference on Neurorehabilitation (ICNR 2020) held online on October 13-16, 2020, this book covers various aspects of neurorehabilitation research and practice, including new insights into biomechanics, brain physiology, neuroplasticity, and brain damages and diseases, as well as innovative methods and technologies for studying and/or recovering brain function, from data mining to interface technologies and neuroprosthetics. In this way, it offers a concise, yet comprehensive reference guide to neurosurgeons, rehabilitation physicians, neurologists, and bioengineers. Moreover, by highlighting current challenges in understanding brain diseases as well as in the available technologies and their implementation, the book is also expected to foster new collaborations between the different groups, thus stimulating new ideas and research directions.




Spatial Cognition VII


Book Description

This is the seventh volume of a series of books on fundamental research in spatial cognition. As with past volumes, the research presented here spans a broad range of research traditions, for spatial cognition concerns not just the basic spatial behavior of biological and artificial agents, but also the reasoning processes that allow spatial planning across broad spatial and temporal scales. Spatial information is critical for coordinated action and thus agents interacting with objects and moving among objects must be able to perceive spatial relations, learn about these relations, and act on them, or store the information for later use, either by themselves or communicated to others. Research on this problem has included both psychology, which works to understand how humans and other mobile organisms solve these problems, and computer science, which considers the nature of the information available in the world and a formal consideration of how these problems might be solved. Research on human spatial cognition also involves the application of representations and processes that may have evolved to handle object and location information to reasoning about higher-order problems, such as displaying non-spatial information in diagrams. Thus, work in s- tial cognition extends beyond psychology and computer science into many disciplines including geography and education. The Spatial Cognition conference offers one of the few forums for consideration of the issues spanning this broad academic range.




Evidence-based Nursing Care Guidelines


Book Description

From an internationally respected team of clinical and research experts comes this groundbreaking book that synthesizes the body of nursing research for 192 common medical-surgical interventions. Ideal for both nursing students and practicing nurses, this collection of research-based guidelines helps you evaluate and apply the latest evidence to clinical practice.




Locomotion and Posture in Older Adults


Book Description

This book is an attempt to advance the discussion and improve our understanding about the effects of aging and movement disorders on motor control during walking and postural tasks. Despite these activities are performed daily, there is a high requirement of motor and neural systems in order to perform both tasks efficiently. Both walking and posture require a complex interaction of musculoskeletal and neural systems. However, the mechanisms used to control these tasks, as well as how they are planned and coordinated, are still a question of discussion among health professionals and researchers. In addition, this discussion is more interesting when the effects of aging are included in the context of locomotion and the postural control. The number of older individuals is 841 million in 2015, which is four times higher than the 202 million that lived in 1950. Aging causes many motor, sensorial and neural deficits, which impair locomotion and postural control in the elderly. The severity of this framework is worsened when the aging goes along with a movement disorder, such as Parkinson disease, Chorea, Dystonia, Huntington disease, etc. Therefore, the aim of this book is to highlight the influence of different aspects on planning, controlling and performing locomotion and posture tasks. In attempting to improve current knowledge in this field, invited authors present and discuss how environmental, sensorial, motor, cognitive and individual aspects influence the planning and performance of locomotor and postural activities. The major thrust of the book is to address the mechanisms involved in controlling and planning motor action in neurological healthy individuals, as well as in those who suffer from movement disorders or face the effects of aging, indicating the aspects that impair locomotion and postural control. In addition, new technologies, tools and interventions designed to manage the effects of aging and movement disorders are presented in the book.




Towards Understanding and Improving Gait Rehabilitation in Virtual Environments Using Latency for Persons with Mobility Impairments


Book Description

Latency is an unavoidable byproduct of the modern virtual reality systems. Although it has been highly studied for several decades, the effects of latency and how it is perceived by persons suffering from mobility impairments have not been investigated. It is important to understand the effects latency has on such under-investigated populations (e.g. persons suffering from Multiple Sclerosis) with the increasing use of virtual reality technology in physical rehabilitation techniques. Therefore, the first study was conducted aiming at understanding the influences of latency and the presence of an avatar have on persons suffering from mobility impairments. The results showed that most participants failed to notice even the higher latency conditions present in the virtual environment, even though their gait was altered. To investigate the lack of latency detection noted, a second study was carried out to examine how the latency thresholds of participants suffering from Multiple Sclerosis may differ from healthy participants. The results showed considerably higher tolerance for latency in participants suffering from multiple sclerosis than healthy participants. Thus, I raised the following question: "can latency be used to create a perceptual illusion to effectively improve rehabilitation in persons suffering from mobility impairments?" To investigate, I conducted two additional experiments where differing latency levels are applied to the left and right side of a self-avatar with both healthy and participants with mobility impairments. The results showed the potential of manipulating walking patterns using latency in a virtual environment. Here, I report the results of these experiments and the implications they have in general virtual rehabilitation system design as well as gait rehabilitation for asymmetric gait. Latency can thus be potentially used as a gait altering technique in a virtual environment.