Role of Virtual Reality Games in Cerebral Palsy Rehabilitation

Virtual reality rehabilitation is a novel way of doing technologically enabled physical therapy. Children suffering from cerebral palsy usually undergo intensive therapy to find their way in the world.

But the exercises can become monotonous and the child can lose his interest in performing those exercises. To compensate for the same, Virtual reality has come into the picture.

VR through its immersive content doesn’t let the individual zone out even for a second. VR is also known to boost confidence and motivation, increase participant compliance, and alleviate the mood of a cerebral palsy affected child.

VR games for cerebral palsy rehabilitation

One of the best games in VR, which is fun and engaging, and also therapeutic, used to train cerebral palsy kids is called Tennis in VR.

In this game, the child is required to volley back the balls coming at him from the other court using VR controllers. This trains him to make proper hand movements and it also improves his hand-eye coordination.

The original rules of Tennis apply in this game, with little modifications. Firstly, the stadium can be changed, the weather can be altered (can be rainy, sunny, cloudy, etc.), the shape and color of the racket can be changed.

Secondly, the gameplay is designed in a way that if a person is completing the target of the level, he will experience a change in the speed of the ball, the direction from where the ball would be coming will also change, and the environment will also start playing a part.

As the player reaches the target, there is a stimulation of vibration of controllers and background sound effects.

Another example of a highly stimulating game is called Bow and Arrow. The defined task is pretty simple, the arrow should meet the target and points have to be scored.

This game involves the child stretching his arms to pull the arrow to the maximum point the bow can hold. This game is also played to improve hand-eye coordination.

The difficult levels include the movement of the target (left to right, or top to bottom, anywhere on the screen), the force with which the string of the bow has to be pulled backward (stretches the arm), and the wind (can be flowing from left to right or vice versa, at different speeds).

Just for a fun game that improves the upper body movements is throwing the pebbles in a lake. In this game, the child is given the liberty to throw the pebbles in any manner in the lake.

The child has an unlimited supply of pebbles. He can try and make the pebbles bounce and or just throw the pebbles at a long distance.

VR Cerebral palsy exercises

A physical therapy-based exercise in VR which improves the wrist movement in the cerebral palsy affected child is fixing an LED bulb. In order to fix an LED bulb, the child has to remove the bulb and put in a new one. This involves rotating his wrists in a clockwise and anti-clockwise direction.

Another fun exercise is to move an object through a path. The child has to select from a variety of objects like a cut-out square, a cut out triangle, or a ring and he also has to select the path which can be a square route, a triangular route, a circular route, or a zig-zag route.

He can change the size of the cut-out part of the object. I.e. it can be made bigger or smaller. He can also change the diameter of the path. The child, with carefulness and with arms stability, has to navigate the object through the path without touching the path’s borders.

Another exercise is called hit the nail using a hammer. The task is simple, the child has to hit the nail with the hammer using VR controllers. The only catch in this exercise is that the nail remains on the screen for very few seconds. The child has to quickly monitor where the nail appears and stably hit it using the hammer.

VR Cerebral Palsy Journeys

Cerebral Palsy affected kids are usually scared of interacting with society. They have to be motivated and we need to instill confidence in them.

A VR journey is the right match to deal with their anxiety. These journeys provide an escape to their minds and open the doors to magical getaways like space, beaches, mystical mountains etc.

These journeys are controller free and can be enjoyed while sitting on a chair or even lying on the bed. Imagine lying on the bed and going to a place of serenity filled with stars, galaxies and other extra-terrestrial objects. This journey to the space takes about 15 minutes. And it is known to increase the happiness quotient by 300% and reduce the levels of depression by 66%.