Virtual Reality Technology for Physical and Cognitive Function Rehabilitation in People With Multiple Sclerosis

Abstract

Virtual reality (VR) has significantly expanded the possibilities of medical treatment, particularly in the realm of rehabilitation. VR utilizes advanced technologies to create simulated environments that users perceive as analogous to the real world. Researchers have demonstrated that VR can effectively train motor, sensory, and cognitive functions. This manuscript offers a concise review of recent evidence concerning the effects of VR training on key clinical symptoms in people with multiple sclerosis (pwMS), with the aim of highlighting VR's potential as a complementary rehabilitative tool for improving ubiquitous symptoms of multiple sclerosis (MS)-a neurodegenerative, often disabling, disease. In addition to presenting a brief overview of recent literature on VR for pwMS, this narrative review seeks to provide health professionals with a foundational understanding of VR as a rehabilitative tool in MS. Furthermore, it may aid in identifying gaps in the literature and stimulate the development of new hypotheses and theories regarding the use of VR in patients with a neurodegenerative disease.

Keywords: cognition; dual task; mobility function; neurological disease; therapy.