الفهرس 
An Overview of Virtual Reality TechnologyOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
VR is a technology which allows a user to interact with a computer-simulated environment, whether that environment is a simulation of the real world or an imaginary world. In medicine, it may be defined broadly as a bidirectional interface between the patient and the computer. By extension of this concept, the computer can be used to recognize patterns of patient behavior in space and react to such behavior.
There are many types and modalities of virtual reality systems to be used in the clinical field depending on variables including degree of immersion and level of interactions.
Standard paradigms of VR interaction present a computer-generated environment for the patient with measurement of patient response, usually followed by stereotyped changes in the computer-generated presentation.
Presently, VR represents a broad range of techniques that are rapidly evolving from the melding of diverse fields of computer graphics and haptics, coupled with the increasing availability of sufficiently powerful hardware platforms.
Successful VR applications must combine new input and output devices in ways that provide not only such an illusion of existence of synthetic objects, but also the interaction metaphors for interacting with them.
Safety, providing patients with greater feelings of self-efficacy, empowerment & motivation are amongst the best benefits of virtual reality based therapy. Developing concepts of how mind works are a strong asset. VR provides feedback and also allows a more stimulating and enriching environment than usual rehabilitation
VR therapy isn’t without side effects. It can induce disorientation, dizziness and nausea. People often find navigating in 3D spaces and performing actions in free space difficult. Another consideration is the limitation of the continuing high cost of some of the necessary devices and systems there’s still lack of standardization in VR devices.
Rehabilitation is an active and dynamic process through which a disabled person is helped to acquire knowledge and skills in order to maximize their physical, psychological, and social functioning
Recent findings in neurophysiology of nervous system showed new perspectives in motor control and, consequently, in rehabilitation programs. In particular, the motor plan of frontal cortex is influenced by the environment and the context where the action takes effect.
Although some innovative rehabilitation strategies have shown potential in randomized controlled trials, available rehabilitation methods do not restore normal or near normal motor function and quality of life in most patients. Therefore, it is important to develop more effective alternative methods for people with motor disabilities.
Many recent methods of rehabilitation appeared in last years, like transcranial magnetic resonance stimulation, direct current stimulation hyperbaric oxygenation and constraint induced movement therapy.
VR presents an opportunity to create assessment and rehabilitation scenarios that incorporate naturalistic challenges and are highly relevant to real-world functioning.
Stroke patient’s use of a paretic arm can be improved through the use of a virtual training environment that delivers visual and auditory cues the improvement of gait occurs through exercises in virtual environments.
Studies have shown that individuals suffering from PD have benefited from virtual rehabilitation therapy through repetitive therapy of scrolling cues that aid their walking and help them work with the debilitating effects of akinesia
Unilateral peripheral vestibular loss results in gait and balance impairment, dizziness and oscillopsia.A low cost gaming system could easily be adapted to meet the requirements of a vestibular rehabilitation program.
Aiding different aphasia therapies, various speaking skill improving, interactive multi-media programs have been developed. Their usual concept is the automation of the traditional face-to-face method of rehabilitation.
Cognitive rehabilitation has to allow patients to recover their planning, executing and controlling skills by implementing sequences of actions and complex behavioral patterns that are requested in everyday life.
Diagnostic and rehabilitative tools used in labs and clinics often fail to assess and treat the frontal patients because they operate within artificial situations, which are far from reproducing the real situations. In this view, immersive VEs appear to be the best solution to make lab situations become closer to the natural setting in the subject’s perception.
VR can be readily used with schizophrenia patients, allowing for the measurement of some complex deficiencies that they experience. Thus the VR experimental environment promises to become a particularly beneficial tool for the characterization of complex brain disorders such as schizophrenia, where the complex nature of the syndrome may manifest itself differently in different complex multi-modal tasks.
VR is as effective in inducing emotional responses as reality and its application is extremely valuable in exposure treatment. In VEs, the patients experience similar physiological symptoms and fear as they do in real life situations, thereby facilitating the habituation process.
Due to its immersive nature (VRET may potentially provide PTSD sufferers with more life-like simulations than traditional methods such as imaginal exposure. This presence which is an essential element of exposure therapy, contributes to the experience of anxiety and facilitates emotion processing.
The number of VR tools addressing OCD is still lacking due to the heterogeneous symptoms of OCD and poor understanding of the relationship between VR and OCD.
Another new area of research for VR in healthcare is the treatment of substance misuse through cue exposure.
VR techniques and high speed networks create an environment which allows clinicians and technical staff - located at a distance from the patient - to interact with 3D visualization of patient’s specific data.
Telerehabilitation may offer major benefits, particularly in terms of improved communication and access to health care over distance.
Telepsychiatry has established itself as a viable health care delivery modality with several applications.
Future developments in virtual reality technology will include systems that allow the therapist to accompany the patient into the virtual world.
VR is now being investigated to be used in various new conditions, like FMRI, relief of patients with terminal illness and many others.
Although most studies currently focus on treatment, in the future, VR may be used as a preventive measures as in the management of PTSD.
In developing new VR tools, it is important to keep several concepts in mind. Existing therapeutic concepts should form the basis for the construction of virtual worlds. VR technology must be understood in light of existing science and established paradigms.
VR applications to clinical neurology and psychiatry are in their infancy, but they will revolutionize many concepts in rehabilitation, neurophysiology, and neuropharmacolog