Virtual reality system for the enhancement of mobility in patients with chronic back pain. In: Pareto, L., Sharkey, P.M., and Merrick, J. (Eds.) Technology, Rehabilitation and Empowerment of People with Special Needs - Proc. 10th Intl Conf. Disability, Virtual Reality & Associated Technologies, Gothenburg, Sweden. Nova Science Publishers, Hauppauge NY, USA. pp.47-60.

Bolte B, de Lussanet de la Sablonière MHE, Lappe M

Abstract

Back pain is among the most common health problems in the western world. While surgery can reduce pain and disability for patients with symptoms specific to spinal degeneration, for chronic back pain (CBP) patients exist a variety of therapeutic interventions, which are, unfortunately, not very effective. In addition, CBP patients tend to develop a fear of movement (kinesiophobia) and stiffness of the trunk that probably lead to further problems due to reduced physical activity. To address these problems, we propose a virtual reality system using head-mounted displays for the enhancement of mobility in CBP patients. We manipulate the visual feedback to change the motor behavior of participants by applying gains to alter the weight with which neck, back and hip rotations contribute to the orientation of the virtual camera. Users will not notice the manipulation if the gains are sufficiently small. In an evaluation study we showed that our approach has the potential to increase back movement amplitudes in control and CBP participants. Although we have used a specific task, the big advantage of our method is that any task involving body rotations can be used, thereby providing the opportunity to tailor the task to a patient's specific preference or need.