Effects of Immersive Virtual Reality on Balance, Mobility, and Fatigue in Patients With Multiple Sclerosis

Effects of Immersive Virtual Reality on Balance, Mobility, and Fatigue in Patients With Multiple Sclerosis

Gait disorder, imbalance, and fatigue are the most frequently reported complaints in Multiple Sclerosis (MS), a chronic neurodegenerative disease. The first symptoms in patients with MS are emerging in the age range 20-50 and these patients need long-term rehabilitation. The virtual reality applications developed for these problems which affect the quality of life negatively and cause disability in the following periods may be a good alternative for conventional rehabilitation applications. In this long-term where motivation is important, virtual reality applications in different environments provide patients with the opportunity to do many different tasks amused. In recent years, the vividness has been increased by the 3D virtual reality headsets.

The aim of this study is to investigate the effects of immersive virtual reality on the balance, mobility, and fatigue in patients with MS.

The study was designed as a prospective, randomized controlled study. The patients will be randomly assigned to three groups, the "immersive virtual reality (IVR)" group, the "dynamic balance training (DBT)" group and the control group. The trainings will be twice a week for 8 weeks. In the IVR group, firstly 30 minutes of Pilates training, 10 minutes of rest and then 20 minutes of virtual reality will be applied. In the DBT group, 20 minutes of dynamic balance exercises will be applied after Pilates training. In dynamic balance training, exercises will consist of similar movements required by virtual reality games. The control group will be taught relaxation exercises and will be asked to perform the exercises 2 times for 8 weeks at home.

Statistical analyses will be performed using the SPSS software version 15 (SPSS Inc. Chicago, IL, USA). The pre-training and post-training measurements of groups will be compared with the Wilcoxon Test. The significance level was set at p< 0.05.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Participants who are ambulatory and volunteer to participate to the study, in a stable phase of the disease, without relapses in the last 1 month, with an EDSS between 0-5,5.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Participants who have orthopedic, vision, hearing, or perception problems
• Patients who have any cardiovascular or pulmonary disease in which exercise is contraindicated