2022 eTalk #4 – virtual reality in clinical practice: ready for reality?

Overview

Virtual reality (VR) has become cheap, portable, easy to operate, highly immersive and engaging, and offers new possibilities for physiotherapists working in pain and rehabilitation. This session will explore the technology, its potential uses, and the current evidence base. The clinical application of the technology will be highlighted through a number or clinical case studies and example applications.

At the end of the session, attendees will:

Be able to describe the different types of extended reality technologies and their features
Understand the concepts such as virtual embodiment and immersion and what they may have to offer clinical problems
Be able to identify applications for virtual reality in clinical practice
Be prepared to understand and engage with the impending wave of VR-based pain and rehabilitation technologies

Presenter

Dr. Daniel Harvie, APA Pain Physiotherapist, APAM, MACP is a physiotherapist and pain scientist. He is currently a NHMRC funded research fellow and musculoskeletal lecturer at the University of South Australia. His research focuses on leveraging new technologies and modern understandings of sensory processing and body perception to create new approaches to chronic pain. He and Lorimer Moseley are the authors of the new book—Pain and The Nature of Perception: A New Way to Look at Pain—which uses stunning visual illusions to highlight nuances in the way that perception works, to promote a broader understanding and approach to the treating pain.

Daniel holds a Master of Musculoskeletal and Sports Physiotherapy, a chronic-pain focussed PhD, and serves on the education committees for the Australian Pain Society and Pain Revolution. He is also part of the OneThing pain science podcast team.