Digital platform aims to facilitate decentralized rehabilitation
Lucerne - An international team has developed a digital platform to facilitate telerehabilitation. It uses virtual reality glasses and biosensors to connect patients. Researchers from the Lucerne-based iHome Lab took part in the project.
Virtual reality is making its way into physiotherapy. To facilitate its use and make the application more attractive for decentralized rehabilitation, an international team of researchers has now developed a digital platform. The team included the iHome Lab at Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts (HSLU) and Zurzach Care in the Swiss canton of Aargau as a clinical partner, according to a statement.
With the platform, patients wear biosensors as well as glasses that immerse them in virtual reality. The glasses contain a camera and are connected to the digital platform. This allows physiotherapists working remotely to do playful exercises with their patients, follow their movements and react accordingly. The level of difficulty for each exercise can be customized.
Sebastian Frese, Head of Technology and Innovation at Zurzach Care, sees great potential for the healthcare sector in telerehabilitation. «This innovative therapy also changes the therapist’s role. With the technology, they become a coach and can react flexibly,» he is quoted as saying.
Around 70 patients, 15 relatives and 40 professionals were involved in the international project between January 2022 and June 2024, according to the statement. In addition to the iHome Lab and Zurzach Care, the team included Ancona-based Tech4Care and INCRA, also from Italy, as well as Canary Technology from Ploiesti in Romania and two Belgian organizations: Unmatched from Aalter and Trainm from Antwerp.
