We are very excited to announce that Corporate Vision have awarded us a Technology Innovator Award as the Leading Innovators in Fitness & Rehab VR 2020!

Virtually Healthy (now VR Healthy) became a reality in 2018; Our CEO Katie Hoolahan was researching the lack of adherence rates in traditional rehabilitation programs and realised how VR would be a great solution to this problem. She partnered with Yasmin Beckett, CMO, and together they created Virtually Healthy (now VR Healthy) .

Now, 2 years later, we are in the midst of analysing existing VR games, using motion capture equipment to detect movements and exertion from different muscle groups. We will use this research to put together programmes best suited for exercise, rehabilitation and therapy, based on the aim you’re looking to achieve. We believe that using gamification in this way will engage more users than traditional rehabilitation programes.

An Update On Our Research…

We are making good progress with our data analysis. Here is a taste of some observations we are finding:

• In many cases, heart rate is observed to be lower than initial resting rate whilst in VR (usually whilst waiting for a game to begin).
• In some cases heart rate returns to a lower rate than the initial resting rate after playing in VR (mostly for the less active games).
• Two participants with slight limitations to their movement commented how they feel that they can do things in VR that they can’t in real life.
• In many cases, perceived exertion appears to be lower than actual exertion.

We are very proud to be receiving this award, and our research is bringing us one step closer to contributing to innovative healthcare solutions using virtual reality. Read all about our research here.

Please sign up to our newsletter below to receive exclusive updates of our work, and follow our journey.