Virtual Reality Rehabilitation for Shoulder Pathologies

Sponsor
La Tour Hospital
Study ID
NCT06963983
Status
Recruiting
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Conditions

  • Frozen Shoulder
  • Rotator Cuff Tears
  • Shoulder Instability

Eligibility Criteria

Sex
ALL
Age
18 Years - N/A
Healthy Volunteers
Not accepted

Interventions

  • Rehabilitation using virtual reality — DEVICE
    During the four physiotherapy (PT) sessions (60 min for each session), a set of exercises from the conventional PT is replaced by multiple short sessions of 30 minutes each, where the patient will be equipped by a set of motion trackers mounted on a belt and on a set of straps to be worn around both arms and both forearms. The patient will also hold a controller in each hand and wear a commercial VR headset on his head. Then, thanks to the headset, the patient will be able to experience a set of VR environments, where he or she will be guided through a set of exergames. His/her movements in the real world will be used to move his/her avatar's body in the virtual world, and the exergames will be designed to push him/her to perform the motions required by the therapy in order to go through the games. Various strategies, including a virtual coach will also appear to prevent the patient from doing potentially hazardous movements.

Study Details

Most rehabilitation protocols require patients to train the affected limbs with high regularity, following repetitive cycles of exercises, in order to recover mobility and strength. Nonetheless, the repetitive nature of these exercises can demotivate patients leading to less intense and committed training, if not ending with a lack of compliance toward the prescribed exercises, ultimately leading to a suboptimal recovery. For this reason, several research groups are investigating solutions to help patients in this process, using robotic support or protocols assisted by virtual reality (VR). Most of these studies have shown benefits, notably in the field of post-stroke rehabilitation, however numerous types of physical therapies have not been investigated yet. Therefore, the main goal of this study will be to explore if the combination of modern motion-tracking and VR can provide significant functional outcomes for the treatment of the most common upper limb pathologies. The investigators created a set of exergames designed to lead the patients through a gamified version of part of physiotherapy (PT). This modified therapy is expected to offer several benefits to the treatment with respect to a purely conventional therapy: (i) improved patient's motivation and commitment to the exercises; (ii) constant evaluation of the patient's performance, thanks to the use of motion tracking; (iii) session-by-session tuning of exercises difficulty; (iv) clear progress traceability; (v) real-time alerts in case of problematic or compensatory movements; (vi) measurement and evaluation of new metrics of movements quality that were not possible in conventional therapy setups. To evaluate the feasibility of this project, the investigators would like to test the VR system on a short series of patients during four sessions.

Key Dates

First listed
May 9, 2025
Start date
Oct 28, 2024
Status verified
Apr 2025
Primary completion
Jun 28, 2025
Completion
Jun 28, 2025

Study Design

Enrollment
15 participants (estimated)
Allocation
NA
Intervention model
SINGLE_GROUP
Primary purpose
TREATMENT

Arms

  • Experimental: Shoulder Pathology Group
    Patients suffering from either shoulder instability, frozen shoulder or rotator cuff tears

Primary Outcome Measure

Simulator Sickness Questionnaire [ Time Frame: Day 1 ]

Central Contacts

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