Improving Heart Health in Individuals With SCI Using Home-Based Virtual Gaming

Plain-language summary

What is the ultimate applicability of the research? Individuals with SCI face several challenges when trying to engage in exercise following injury. Barriers to engagement include cost, transportation, and lack of SCI accessible resources. At the same time, individuals with SCI are at risk of developing negative health consequences (e.g., cardiovascular disease) associated with physical inactivity. A critical need exists to improve relevant, accessible, and sustainable home-based exercise interventions for individuals with SCI to lower the risk of developing secondary comorbid diseases from physical inactivity and to promote wellness. This research will investigate a fun and novel in-home virtual reality system aimed toward improving physical fitness of individuals SCI with the ultimate goal of improving physical, emotional, and psychosocial quality of life. Virtual reality gaming has been used for a long time to improve physical fitness, but there have yet to be virtual reality games designed specifically for individuals with SCI. The explicit aim of this research is therefore to develop a therapeutic technology that will be widely accessible to individuals with SCI. What persons with SCI and/or their caregivers will it help, and how will it help them? We aim to provide a readily available exercise platform for individuals with SCI, across a spectrum of physical function. Research has shown that individuals with SCI are particularly prone to be physically inactive. The consequences of physical inactivity have been well documented and include negative outcomes in physical, psychological, and social health with reduced quality of life. For the current study, we will refine our existing virtual reality exercise platform, VR-Move with a focus on non ambulatory individuals with bilaterally preserved C6 function. Our focus on using the exercise platform for this cohort of the SCI population is meant to provide a basis for developing and catering to the platform for higher levels of SCI injury (higher quadriplegic). From our previous work with virtual reality interventions in SCI, we recognize that this product can be widely used by individuals across the age spectrum independently of their home environment. What are the potential clinical applications, benefits, and risks? The proposed virtual reality exercise platform, VR-Move, is intended to provide one of the few accessible exercise modalities designed specifically for individuals with SCI and is readily adaptable across the clinical spectrum - including clinic and self-guided home use. There are no known risks associated with this research. How will the pilot clinical trial advance the research findings along the translational spectrum? This project aims to refine and assess timely therapeutic technology with the specific intention of translating study findings into a clinically validated, widely accessible health product that can be deployed and implemented within the home. The project likewise demonstrates collaboration between academia, industry (a veteran-owned business), and veteran SCI communities. Project completion will offer initial validation of a novel health promoting modality (i.e., virtual reality exercise) informed by individuals living with SCI and experts in SCI to be relevant and responsive to specific health/exercise needs of persons living with SCI. Larger clinical trial testing will subsequently inform product commercialization and dissemination. The resulting platform, developed for unattended in-home use, is expected to make a meaningful contribution to SCI health and physical fitness, accessibility, and quality of life. What is the projected time it may take to achieve a person-related outcome? The team is purposefully refining the existing exercise platform, VR-Move, so that it can be easily implemented within people's homes or in clinic settings. Pending findings from the pilot clinical study, this exercise platform would be available immediately to individuals with SCI What are the likely contributions of the proposed research project to advancing the field of SCI research, patient care, and/or quality of life? The proposed study may make significant contributions across several areas. First, it will facilitate fruitful clinical data and basic lines of scientific inquiry regarding the application of the physical activity paradigm. The study will also increase our knowledge regarding the importance of consumer advocate-driven research for individuals with SCI. Second, low-activity following SCI is consistently associated with reduced quality of life among individuals with SCI and their families; access to an inexpensive portable intervention will therefore significantly improve quality of life among those affected by low-activity SCI.

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