VR Head Tracking as a Useful Tool for the Qualitative Assessment of Cervical Spine Movement

TL;DR

This study shows that VR head tracking can reliably and comfortably assess cervical spine movement quality beyond basic range-of-motion measurements.

Contribution

The novelty lies in demonstrating VR's potential for detailed, non-invasive cervical spine movement analysis using a proprietary head tracking application.

Findings

VR head tracking provides reliable and objective cervical spine range of motion measurements.

Adult subjects report high satisfaction and tolerance for VR-based cervical spine assessments.

VR allows deeper biomechanical analysis beyond simple angular measurements.

Abstract

Virtual reality (VR), among other technologies, is establishing the direction of development in the rehabilitation field. Diagnostic tools in cervical spine movement assessments have been described in many studies. The aim of this study was to present the potential of using VR for diagnosing movement quality disorders in the cervical spine. Additional objectives of the research include determining whether Virtual Reality conditions are reliable and objective for measuring the range of motion of the cervical spine when using the proprietary VR Head Tracking application, as well as assessing the level of satisfaction and tolerance of this type of diagnostic method among the subjects. We reached the following conclusions: the measurements of the cervical spine range of motion conducted using the proprietary VR Head Tracking application are reliable and objective, the level of satisfaction with the diagnostic method, as well as the tolerance of the VR examination, is consistently favorable in adults, the results obtained from the VR application allow for a deeper analysis of the data, beyond just the angles of the range of motion. The use of diagnostic methods in a Virtual Reality environment for assessing the biomechanics of the musculoskeletal system in the cervical spine is valid and can be efficiently and non-invasively carried out.

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