Effectiveness of Virtual Reality (VR) in the Rehabilitation Care of Elderly

Introduction: The number of elder people has increased steadily over the time. Over the past two decades, virtual reality (VR) has been the subject of growing interest in oncology. Virtual reality (VR) is a subject of interest and curiosity in cancer research. A growing number of researchers are studying the impact of VR to improve the patient’s quality of life. The aim of this study was to review published studies carried out on the effectiveness of virtual reality (VR) in the rehabilitation care of elderly.Methods: This literature review was carried out in five databases: PubMed, Medline, Web of Science, Scopus and PEDro. A total of ۳۴۵ articles were found, and after the removal of duplicates, ۱۵۷ titles and abstracts were screened. From the screened abstracts, ۳۴ studies were read in full text. ۲۷ of those were excluded for the following reasons: conference papers, low quality randomized controlled trial (RCT), intervention not relevant or wrong population.Finding: Virtual reality (VR) has several applications in the rehabilitation domain and also generates a secure environment to do activities. Evaluation of the effectiveness of VR among elders revealed positive effects of VR as a tool to reduce risks of falls and also improve the social and emotional well-being of older adults. The decline in physical and mental health, the loss of functional capabilities, and a weakening of social ties represent obstacles towards active aging among older adults and indicate a need for support. So, recent studies and new experiments in the field of geriatrics have shown that virtual reality can help older people feel less alone, increase their sense of well-being and mobility, and even benefit those with Alzheimer’s or dementia

Keywords:

rehabilitation , virtual reality , elderly , elder people , physical therapy.