2023/12/22 by Aliaa Rehan Youssef, Youssef, Aliaa Rehan, Mohammed Gumaa +3
Medicine · #FOS: Computer and information sciences #Human-Computer Interaction (cs.HC) #Musculoskeletal pain and rehabilitation #Nerve Injury and Rehabilitation #Spinal Fractures and Fixation Techniques
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2312.14371
openalex publication_date 2023/12/22 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
This study is concerned with the application of virtual reality (VR) in rehabilitation programs for faulty neck posture which is a primary source of neck pain (NP). The latter is a highly prevalent musculoskeletal disorder that is associated with serious societal and economic burden. VR has been shown to be effective in the physical rehabilitation of various diseases. Specifically, it has been shown to improve the adherence of patients and engagement to carry out physical exercises on a regular basis. Many games have been used to manage NP with different immersion levels. Towards this goal, we present a VR-based system that targets a specific neck problem, the so called forward head posture (FHP), which is a faulty head position that abnormally stresses neck structures. The system can also generalize well to other neck-related disorders and rehabilitation goals. We show the steps for designing and developing the system, and we highlight the aspects of interaction between usability and various game elements. Using a three-point scale for user experience, we also present preliminary insights on the evaluation of the system prototype, and we discuss future enhancement directions based on the feedback from users.