Virtual Reality in the Rehabilitation of Patients with Injuries and Diseases of Upper Extremities

Abstract

Upper-extremity injuries and diseases rarely have life-threatening consequences, but failure to manage them properly can result in severe dysfunction. This article presents the current state of using virtual reality to support the rehabilitation process of patients with injuries and diseases of the upper extremities and points out their effects on upper-extremity functions. A scoping review was conducted to provide a comprehensive overview of the field of virtual reality for upper-extremity rehabilitation. PubMed, Web of Science, and the Cochrane Library were searched by two independent researchers between April and May 2021 to identify relevant publications and were examined according to inclusion and exclusion criteria. As a result of the literature review, 11 studies of various target groups were identified. Virtual-reality technologies were categorized into multisensory high-end systems and game-based systems. With respect to functional recovery, technologies based on virtual reality were not inferior to traditional rehabilitation. In addition, the users were highly motivated and satisfied. The results emphasize the need for stronger evidence-based virtual-reality technologies for rehabilitation of injuries and diseases of upper extremities.