Virtual Reality Upper Limb Therapy (VRULT)
Research type
Research Study
Full title
The Feasibility of Virtual Reality-Based Activities for Upper Limb Rehabilitation of People with Acute/Sub-Acute Tetraplegia.
IRAS ID
336594
Contact name
Lorna Paul
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Glasgow Caledonian University
Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 0 months, 0 days
Research summary
Improving arm and hand function is a high priority for people with spinal cord injury (SCI) and even small improvements in arm and hand function can reduce reliance on others for self-care, promoting independence and positively affecting quality of life.
Virtual reality (VR) training has been used as a form of arm and hand rehabilitation in different clinical conditions. In VR, a person with SCI is able to complete exercise in an interactive virtual environment. This can foster more enjoyable and motivating experiences compared to traditional exercise therapy, potentially increasing the amount of therapy undertaken, leading to improvements in arm and hand function.
The study has two objectives. The first is to find out if VR technology is usable by people with spinal cord injuries and their therapists while in hospital. The second objective is to get an indication if this therapy could be effective.
Participants who have had a spinal cord injury and have tetraplegia will be recruited from the Queen Elizabeth National Spinal Injuries Unit, Glasgow. After they have provided informed consent, they will receive 12 weeks of either standard upper limb therapy (‘control group’), or both the VR activities and standard treatment (‘VR Group’). Participants who receive VR activities will engage in immersive VR games.
The participants who are in the control group will receive their usual rehabilitation and will be given the opportunity to try the VR games after the completion of their involvement in the trial.
All participants will be asked to attend three assessment sessions during the study. These will last up to two hours each and monitor how their arm and hand function changes. Participants will also be interviewed and complete a questionnaire to see what they thought about using the VR games.
REC name
West of Scotland REC 4
REC reference
24/WS/0002
Date of REC Opinion
23 Feb 2024
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion