Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2025
DOI
10.3390/technologies13050167
Publication Title
Technologies
Volume
13
Issue
5
Pages
167 (1-20)
Abstract
Significant advancements in virtual reality (VR) technology have occurred in the past decade, allowing clinical researchers to take advantage of these reduced barriers to explore the use of VR in patient populations. This scoping review on VR interventions to improve mobility in adults and children focuses on the literature from 2010-2023. A total of 2736 articles were screened and 126 articles met the inclusion criteria. Most of the studies were conducted in inpatient clinical settings (n = 41) and investigated VR interventions to improve balance (n = 118). Less immersive (n = 108) products such as Nintendo Wii or Xbox Kinect were primarily used. Additionally, 37.0% of studies (n = 47) used off-the-shelf programs like Wii Fit Plus and 73.2% of studies (n = 93) found statistically significant improvements in motor outcomes following VR intervention. The articles included in this review suggest that the majority of VR research for physical rehabilitation is being performed in clinical settings. Most studies reported statistically significant improvements in their outcome variables following VR intervention. These observations demonstrate that research in this area is moving beyond proof-of-concept and toward translation to clinical applications.
Rights
© 2025 by the Authors.
This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license.
Data Availability
Article states: "All the data can be found in the body of the paper and the Supplementary Materials."
ORCID
0009-0004-1090-9688 (Pousti), 0000-0001-7256-4508 (Rhea)
Original Publication Citation
erg, D. T., Pousti, R., Howard, C. K., Ross, S. E., Raisbeck, L. D., McGuirt, J. T., & Rhea, C. K. (2025). The landscape of virtual reality use in mobility rehabilitation from 2010-2023: A scoping review. Technologies, 13(5), 1-20, Article 167. https://doi.org/10.3390/technologies13050167
Repository Citation
Felsberg, Danielle T.; Pousti, Reza; Howard, Charlend K.; Ross, Scott E.; Raisbeck, Louisa D.; McGuirt, Jared T.; and Rhea, Christopher K., "The Landscape of Virtual Reality Use in Mobility Rehabilitation from 2010-2023: A Scoping Review" (2025). Rehabilitation Sciences Faculty Publications. 143.
https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/pt_pubs/143
PRISMA-ScR checklist
Table S2.pdf (219 kB)
Demographic information of included studies
Table S3.pdf (242 kB)
Summary of findings of included studies
Included in
Game Design Commons, Kinesiology Commons, Physical Therapy Commons