Learning to walk again with virtual reality

Share:

About the research

Someone who suffers a stroke often has to learn to walk again. Unfortunately, such rehabilitation - walking for hours on a treadmill - is often very boring and therefore difficult to maintain. "Let's make this more challenging", says Emma De Keersmaecker (VUB - FWO). She has patients complete their rehabilitation in a virtual environment using VR glasses, for example on Mars among aliens. She investigates what works best in order to create the most optimal environment for the patient. "Walking on a treadmill will never have to be boring again!"

Health
Emma De Keersmaecker
FWO - VUB

Emma De Keersmaecker (°1994), physiotherapist by training, has always been fascinated by technology. When she got the chance to do research on the use of virtual reality for the rehabilitation of neurological patients, she grabbed it with both hands. With her doctoral research at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, she wants to unravel the effect of virtual reality on the gait pattern of people who have suffered a brain injury. Ultimately, she wants to find out how virtual reality can be used to train these patients.

Gerelateerde video's