Systemic Literature Review of the Use of Virtual Reality for Rehabilitation in Parkinson Disease

Functional rehabilitation is important when managing Parkinson disease (PD). Virtual reality (VR) therapy is a noninvasive, potential alternative or adjunct to conventional therapies used during rehabilitation.

The authors searched for articles in Google Scholar, PubMed, Physiotherapy Evidence Database Score (PEDro), and Cochrane after setting specific requirements starting in July 2019. Methodologic quality was assessed by PEDro for randomized controlled trials. Among 89 studies identified, 28 included in this review evaluated VR therapy for use during rehabilitation for PD: 7 used immersive VR and 21 used nonimmersive VR. Among the immersive VR studies, 6 showed improvement in primary outcomes after adding VR therapy. Among the nonimmersive VR studies, 5 showed improvement with VR therapy when compared with conventional therapy, 9 showed improvement with VR and conventional therapy with no between group difference, and the remaining 7 showed improvement in primary outcomes after adding VR intervention. The quality and diversity of studies was a major limitation.

VR therapy is a promising rehabilitation modality for PD but more studies are needed. Additional investigations of VR therapy and PD should include direct comparisons between immersive and nonimmersive VR therapies.