Re-Envisioning Reality For Rehabilitation: (A Past, Present & Future Look At Virtual Reality)

Abstract

There has been much hyperbole over the past few years about Virtual Reality (VR). Could this phenomenon of transporting the human mind into a computer-generated world be important in the rehabilitation realm? Is it an area of interest to the Prosthetic and Orthotic practitioner? Where did VR originate? What are VR's present applications in rehabilitaiion? How does the haute of VR allow us to re-envision rehabilitation? Imagine if you had lived in the 1940s, and were told of a box in your living room, through which you could see and hear people speaking or performing live at a distant location; would you have believed it? This presentation will explore the role of Virtual Reality in rehabilitation: its origin, present, and future.