Remote immersive rehab technology could help veterans receive timely and effective physical therapy

Telerehab, or doctor-patient consultation by phone or video, lacks a sense of touch that makes it impossible for the doctor to fully evaluate her patient’s musculoskeletal movements, says UT-Dallas computer science professor Dr. Prabhakaran Balakrishnan.

Dr. Balakrishnan and his graduate students Suraj Raghuraman and Yaun Tian have developed a 3-D rehabilitation therapy to allow users to physically interact using pressure-operated devices. When a patient applies pressure to his device, a similar device in the doctor’s office moves with the same force “… as if the patient were physically pressing the doctor’s hand”, says Dr. Balakrishnan.

This system has been tested at the Dallas Veterans Affairs Medical Center with patients with upper body rehab needs.

Learn more about how the system works: http://bit.ly/3Dtelerehab

Credit: NSF/ Demo video courtesy of UT-Dallas.