Neurorehabilitation with Virtual and Augmented Reality Tools

Neuromotor disorders, such as stroke, traumatic brain injury, and limb loss, result in patients suffering from significant physical and psychological barriers which significantly impede a patient's ability to perform activities of daily living. While conventional therapeutic interventions help patients to regain functionality, they are often monotonous and unengaging, resulting in poor patient motivation and dedication to complete the regimen. Given the widespread use and success of virtual and augmented reality systems, many neurorehabilitation developers have begun incorporating these paradigms into therapeutic services with promising results. This chapter presents an overview of the use of virtual and augmented reality tools for the treatment of neuromotor disorders in recent decades. The current status of rehabilitation engineering devices is illustrated and analyzed along with the challenges and issues that must be overcome so that virtual and augmented reality-based rehabilitation can be made accessible to a larger population. We present various examples of virtual and augmented reality applications in the field of neuromotor disorder treatment and rehabilitation as well as the advantages of applying these paradigms to address critical technical issues found in traditional clinical protocols.