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一位有平衡问题的患者站在波速球上，同时在两只潇洒的企鹅之间击打着一只顽皮的河豚。

另一个人坐着，拿着一个加重的球，同时用脚踢着弹球控制器。

单脚站立，沿着海滩上的人行道行走，在餐车上制作火腿奶酪三明治，玩塔罗牌。

这些接受物理治疗的方式似乎都很奇怪，但这就是康复训练的未来，一个由虚拟现实（VR）工具促成的未来。

A patient with balance issues standing on a bosu ball while batting a playful pufferfish between two dapper penguins.

Another seated and holding a weighted ball while kicking at pinball controls with their feet.

Standing on one foot while following a footpath on a beach, making a ham-and-cheese sandwich in a food cart, playing tarot cards.

These might all seem odd ways to undergo physical therapy — but this is the future of rehabilitation, enabled by virtual reality (VR) tools.

“患者在进行虚拟现实康复训练的时候很投入，” Northbound Health的物理治疗博士、物理治疗师兼执行董事Nora Foster说。“VR沉浸式体验激励和挑战患者，使他们可以从康复治疗中获得最大的收益。”

医疗设备公司Penumbra希望通过今天发布的首个免提、全身、无系绳VR康复平台进一步实现这一功能，并帮助改善患者的治疗效果。

Penumbra的REAL System y系列是唯一使用上下肢传感器的平台，这个系统允许临床医生实时跟踪患者的全身运动和进展，Penumbra 首席执行官Adam Elsesser解释说。

“全身是重要的下一步，这是人们一直向往的一件事，这样他们就可以与患者一起研究身体的其他部分。不只是上半身，而是整个身体。它打开了帮助更多人的窗口。”

“Patients are really engaged with virtual reality,” said Nora Foster, a Doctor of Physical Therapy, physical therapist and executive director of Northbound Health. “The VR immersive experience motivates and challenges patients to get the most out of their rehab therapy.”

Medical device company Penumbra hopes to further enable this capability — and help improve patient outcomes — with the release today of the first hands-free, full-body, non-tethered VR rehabilitation platform.

Penumbra’s REAL System y-Series is the only platform to use upper and lower body sensors that allow clinicians to track full body movement and progress in real time, explained Penumbra CEO, Adam Elsesser.

“The full body was the big next step,” he said. “It’s the one thing in our area that people have been wanting so that they can get working with patients on the rest of the body; not just the upper part — the whole body. It opens up the window to help so many more people.”

元宇宙：让患者回到现实世界

Penumbra的REAL System with VR现在具有升级的硬件和传感器技术——特别是下半身传感器。Elsesser 说，该技术包括一个耳机和五个传感器，现在可以通过全身化身来处理上下肢。

Elsesser解释说，它目前在美国各地的诊所和医院用于接受物理、职业和语言治疗的患者。它有助于解决由中风和其他疾病引起的上身损伤、核心和平衡、认知、功能使用、日常生活训练活动（购物、自我护理）和认知刺激。

Elsesser 说，REAL System y系列旨在患者与指导患者运动的治疗师一起使用，他们可以在平板电脑上查看患者在虚拟现实中的情况。然后，临床医生可以定制练习和活动，以挑战、激励和吸引患者，同时实时跟踪运动和进展。

但是，Elsesser很快强调，这“不仅仅是一款我们重新调整用途的游戏，它是特别以医疗保健为导向的。在 VR 中完成的体验和活动是与非常认真的临床医生一起设计的。”

此外，虽然元宇宙无疑是技术领域最热门的话题之一，他强调该产品被称为“REAL System”是有原因的。

他说，人们在新兴的元宇宙环境中利用化身参加在现实世界中不可能发生的独特虚拟活动、穿虚拟服装、购买虚拟商品并获得他们永远不会接触到的体验，这一切都很好。但在这种情况下，虚拟世界是被用来帮助人们回到现实世界去的。

“我们是一家医疗保健公司，我们希望人们能够好起来，回到他们的日常生活中去。这恰好是一个特别适合做这件事的工具。”

The metaverse: Getting patients back to the real world

Penumbra’s REAL System with VR now features upgraded hardware and sensor technology — notably, lower-body sensors. Comprising a headset and five sensors, the technology can now address both upper and lower extremities with a full-body avatar, said Elsesser.

It is currently being used in clinics and hospitals across the U.S. for patients undergoing physical, occupational and speech therapy, explained Elsesser. It helps to address upper body impairments caused by stroke and other conditions, core and balance, cognition, functional uses, activities of daily living training (grocery shopping, self-care) and cognitive stimulation.

The REAL System y-Series is intended to be used with a therapist that guides patients’ movements, said Elsesser; they can view on a tablet what the patient is seeing in virtual reality. Clinicians can then customize exercises and activities to challenge, motivate and engage patients, while tracking movement and progress in real time.

But, Elsesser was quick to emphasize that this is “not just a game that we’re repurposing. It’s very particularly healthcare oriented. The experiences and activities done in VR are designed with very serious clinicians.”

Also, while the metaverse is undoubtedly one of the hottest topics in tech right now, he underscored that the product is called “REAL System” for a reason.

People utilizing avatars in the emerging metaverse environment to attend unique virtual events not possible in the real world, wear virtual clothes, buy virtual goods and have experiences they would otherwise never be exposed to is all well and good, he said — but in this case, the virtual world is being used for helping people get back to the real world.

“We’re a healthcare company, we want people to get better and return to their daily lives. This just happens to be a tool that is particularly well suited to do that.”

克服康复挑战

普遍的看法是，当下人们对创新康复疗法的需求从未如此强烈。例如，在YouGov对100多名美国物理治疗师的一项调查中，80%的受访者表示，该领域在过去十年中变化不大或根本没有变化。

同样，近75%的人表示，患者的依从性是当今物理治疗的最大挑战，超过一半的人认为VR可以帮助改善这一状况。

而且，虽然大多数物理治疗师（65%）渴望在他们的实践中使用像VR这样的技术，但只有39%的人认为他们的医院和诊所的决策者有可能投资于此类技术。

福斯特表示VR可以帮助解决各种问题，例如，正在处理疼痛的病人往往不愿意移动和挑战自己。但是，当该患者打开VR系统后，他们会以以前没有的方式（或很长时间没有使用的方式）进行活动。

同时，从心理健康的角度来看，脊髓损伤或脑损伤的患者往往不能做一些实际的事情或去一些地方，但VR可以让他们暂时忘记这种令人沮丧的现实。

“使用这种专用设备后，我就能够通过有趣和愉快的活动来吸引和激励我的病人。”已经将REAL系统用于一系列伤害和病症的福斯特说。

Overcoming rehabilitation challenges

The prevailing sentiment is that the need for innovative rehabilitation therapy has never been greater. For instance, in a YouGov survey of more than 100 U.S.-based physical therapists, 80% of respondents said the field has changed only moderately or not at all over the last decade.

Similarly, nearly 75% say that patient compliance is the biggest challenge in physical therapy today, and more than half believe that VR can help improve that.

And, while the majority of physical therapists (65%) would be eager to use technologies like VR in their practice, only 39% believe their hospital and clinic decision-makers are likely to invest in such technologies.

VR can help with a variety of issues, Foster said. For instance, patients who are dealing with pain are often reluctant to move and challenge themselves. But, when that patient puts the VR system on, they move in ways that they haven’t before (or haven’t in a long time).

From a mental health perspective, meanwhile, a patient with a spinal cord injury or a brain injury oftentimes can’t physically do things or go to places — which is understandably frustrating. VR allows them to forget those circumstances for a while, said Foster.

“Having access to this specialized equipment, I am able to engage and motivate my patients with activities that are fun and enjoyable,” said Foster, who has used the REAL system for a range of injuries and conditions.

游戏的根源

正如Elsesser说的那样，他和Arani Bose于2004年创立了Penumbra，最初专注于中风患者。该公司最著名的是其针对血栓导致中风的介入技术。Elsesser说：“在当时，那是相当先进的技术。 ”从那以后，该公司转向了解决身体其他部位疾病的技术，并在五年前偶然地开始了VR技术的发展轨迹，最近又开始发展元宇宙。Elsesser说，在2017年，他受邀演示SixSense游戏技术。

虚拟现实技术对医疗保健的好处非常明显，Elsesser把VR欺骗人们的能力比作神经可塑性（当大脑根据内部和外部刺激重新构建自己时）。

“这是一段很棒的旅程，”Elsesser谈到今天的发布时说。“我们迫不及待地想听到患者将能够分享的个人故事，告诉我们他们如何感觉更好，做得更好，如何恢复到正常的生活。”

Gaming roots

As Elsesser explained, he and Arani Bose founded Penumbra in 2004 initially with a focus on stroke patients. The company is most well-known for its interventional technology for blood clots causing strokes. “At the time, that was pretty out there technology,” said Elsesser.

The company has since moved to technologies addressing conditions in other parts of the body, and started its trajectory to VR technologies just five years ago and more recently - metaverse. In 2017, Elsesser said, he was invited to demo SixSense gaming technology.

The benefits for healthcare became very obvious, he said, likening VR’s ability to trick people to neuroplasticity (when the brain rewires itself based on internal and external stimuli).

“It’s been a great journey to get here,” Elsesser said of today’s release. “We just can’t wait to hear the individual stories that patients are going to be able to share, tell us how they’re feeling better, doing better, returning to a more normal life.”

这就是VR技术和元宇宙可以帮助人们改善生活的方式之一。你还能想到什么吗？

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