To Make Physical Rehabilitation Easier

Rehabilitating a lower extremity dysfunction that interferes with walking is time consuming. Research in neural plasticity has shown that intensive, repetitive and task-specific training is needed to recover the ability to walk.

Judith Deutsch, PhD, PT, School of Health Related Professions associate professor, is the Director of Research in Virtual Environments and Rehabilitation Sciences (RIVERS). She is also the principal investigator on a National Science Foundation grant, "Post-Stroke Mobility Rehabilitation at-Home Using VR-Based Dual Haptic Platforms."

According to Judith Deutsch, "Virtual reality (VR) technology offers the promise of delivering this type of optimal therapy. VR technology allows us to train patients to exercise, to document their outcomes and to monitor them remotely while they are exercising at home."

Five years ago, Deutsch was asked to consult with Rutgers University engineer Grigore Burdea, PhD, on a VR device to rehabilitate injured knees. She persuaded him instead to work on a device that would allow someone to interact with a virtual world using a foot and ankle. "We combined my clinical and science expertise with his engineering skills and vision," she says. The Rutgers Ankle Rehabilitation System (RARS), a brainchild of their collaboration, allows patients to move a foot the same way it might shift naturally to control a boat, for instance, or to fly an airplane. This VR tool is unique because it provides sensory input, or haptic (touch) feedback, to the foot, which makes that virtual world on the computer more realistic. From the RARS seat, if the imaginary plane is flown through certain conditions, the operator will experience headwind as the platform oscillates. If the plane or boat brushes an object or hits a target, "the user will feel their foot being deflected." The goal is to use the simulations to perform hundreds of repetitions to increase flexibility, strength, coordination and endurance of the foot and ankle. Preliminary data shows that practicing in this virtual environment improves walking ability in the real world. The current version of their RARS is designed for sitting. The team is now creating another system for standing, a mobility simulator, which incorporates actual tasks and real environments like crossing a street or walking through a park.