Magic Mirror on the Wall: Reflecting the Realities of Lower Limb Rehabilitation in Virtual Reality

Virtual reality (VR) could increase access, improve effectiveness, and reduce costs for at-home physical rehabilitation. However, there are open questions regarding the design, development, and usability of VR applications, particularly for lower limb rehabilitation protocols. This work addresses data capture and usability questions by developing and testing a low-cost lower limb rehabilitation system in VR. Our prototype demonstrates a viable design strategy for creating an exercise paradigm capable of tracking movement input from standing, seated, or supine positions. With the prototype application, we advance the following goals: (1) Achieve accurate data capture of user performance during lower limb rehabilitation in VR, and (2) Deliver relevant performance feedback to users in real-time. We tested our prototype's strengths and limitations using Unity3D and HTC Vive VR hardware with six participants.

Automated summary

This study develops and tests a low-cost VR system for lower limb rehabilitation, addressing the issues of data capture and usability. The prototype application accurately captures user performance data during lower limb rehabilitation in VR and provides real-time feedback.