What is your take on " Virtual Reality " in rehabilitation Engineering?

Virtual reality (VR) technologies use multimedia devices and computer simulation to allow users to interact with a simulated environment, creating life-like experience. Display devices present sensory information, such as vision, auditory, and touch, sense, to the user. Rehabilitation in healthcare refers to the treatment and process to restore good health and regain impaired functions and abilities. Virtual Reality (VR) has recently emerged as a valid addition to conventional therapy by incorporating rehabilitation strategies in a novel and low-cost approach. Virtual environments can be customized by designing tasks that fit the individual’s cognitive and physical impairments, which is critical in maximizing brain reorganization and reactivating those brain areas involved in motor planning, learning, and execution.Many studies have examined VR as a tool to assess the level and type of cognitive impairment. In contrast to the high number of rehabilitation assessment studies, there are very few studies that have investigated VR applications in rehabilitation training and exercise. In a case report in 2001, a 65-year old woman with impaired memory functions received a 24-week rehabilitation exercise with both music-story therapy and HMD-VR experiences (Pentium III) that visualized the scenes told in the stories. The results showed improved clinical conditions, and the authors suggested that the interactive and immersive features of VR could benefit music-enhanced therapy and better involve the patient during the training. VR can be really effective rehabilitation tool.