Application of immersive VR system in the rehabilitation of ACL injuries

Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) injuries are undoubtably some of the hardest injuries to recover from on the lower extremity. Patients report up to 75% degradation in knee quality of life within 20 years post-surgery, however, conventional rehabilitation methods are limited to non-immersive equipment and mostly unquantifiable data to track someone’s recovery progress. Those factors along with the extended recovery time of an ACL injury (8-12 Months) decrease the patient’s adherence to rehabilitation plans. The present study is intended to validate the use of a fully instrumented Bertec Corporation Treadmill along with an immersive virtual reality (VR) motion capture system, to enhance and objectify targeted feedback and biofeedback from motor control as well as sensorimotor performance data. The rehabilitation system components include three PCs which connect a large 270-degree screen, a projector, nine motion capture cameras, and a treadmill with arm supports and force plates. With such a system in place, the process of rehabilitating an ACL injury can be optimized and quantified using motion capture markers to measure range of motion (ROM) in a customizable environment that simultaneously activates sensorimotor functions in a patient by providing a fully immersive experience.