Virtual reality in concussion management: from lab to clinic

The use of virtual reality (VR) technology continues to grow in the areas of clinical assessment and rehabilitation. Both researchers and health-care providers are exploring ways to incorporate VR in clinical practice as an emerging technology. VR postural control and neuropsychological testing represent a promising next step in sport-related concussion (SRC) management. This article reviews the current literature on VR applications for SRC assessment.

VR-based postural control assessments suggest that visual motion is destabilizing following SRC, perhaps indicating persistent perceptual-motion disintegration when clinical postural control tests suggest complete recovery. VR can also provide functional neuropsychological assessments using real-life scenarios or virtual environments, which may be more sensitive than traditional pencil-and-paper or computerized neuropsychological assessments.