Tuesday, November 2, 2010
3°
6°/-4°- Email Story
- Size A A A
- Report Typo
- Some patients at Bruyere hospital will be part of a new research study to find out if virtual reality video games are an effective means of rehabilitation.
- Play Video
Two months ago, encephalitis sufferer Louis Beaulieu wasn’t able to move or talk but Thursday he and his walker were stopping soccer balls.
The rehabilitation program at Elizabeth Bruyere Hospital is home to a new research project — virtual reality video games.
Beaulieu, like many patients requiring physiotherapy, was brought into the second-floor room in Ottawa’s oldest hospital to try out a groundbreaking approach to strength and balance-building exercises — the first of its kind in Canada.
Participants stand up against a green screen and see themselves on a TV in a virtual environment. Beaulieu is a soccer goalie, but other programs are available including snowboarding and surfing.
Medical Director of the stroke rehabilitation program, Dr. Hillel Finestone, said the method hasn’t been tested or proven as effective, and that’s what he and his team are attempting to do over the next few years. The hospital has hired University of Ottawa PHd student Dan McEwen to coordinate the research.
For Beaulieu, physiotherapy at Bruyere has worked better than the medications he was receiving elsewhere.
“They stopped all the medications and this is when I started to make progress,” he said.
Hospital officials are expecting a huge demand so they’re working on adding a second set-up elsewhere in the building. The hospital has launched a fundraising campaign — the $4.5 million Days of Hope, Care & Dignity.
As part of this campaign, local philanthropists, Tony and Elizabeth Graham have donated $270,000 to create the Tony and Elizabeth Graham Virtual Reality Research and Training Centre.
doug.hempstead@sunmedia.ca
No comments:
Post a Comment