Exercise for the elderly in VR

Seemingly minor incidents, such as tripping or slipping, can be life-changing. This is particularly true for the elderly, as the risk and severity of fall-related injuries increase with age. In recent years, fall prevention has become a critical area of research and many techniques and methods were proposed. With the emergence of Virtual Reality (VR) technologies many possibilities to enhance these techniques have become available. This thesis explores the potential use of virtual reality technology in enhancing the sensorimotor walkway exercise for elderly individuals. The utilization of VR aims to increase exercise attractiveness and social interaction while stimulating the somatosensory system of the individual. During the thesis a prototype VR application to verify the importance of leg tracking was developed and tested. This was followed by the development and testing of the PhysioBridge application. For the patients, it provides a comprehensive VR experience during the exercise. For the physiotherapist a control application for Android smartphone was developed. The thesis concludes with the design of large-scale study to research the contribution of the virtual reality for the sensorimotor walkway exercise.