VR Grocery Shopping

Today, researchers from the University of Pittsburgh will present a poster on the correlation they found between conventional clinical measures of balance and measures of balance while subjects were immersed in a virtual grocery store environment. They will present their ideas on how VR environments can be used for therapeutic purposes for people with balance disorders. Specifically, a grocery store was chosen because of the need to simultaneously walk through different aisles while looking at various height levels of products.

Read the full abstract at NIH NIDCD Abstracts

Videos of PTSD Exposure Therapy

The Health Blog recently posted a thorough and clear explanation of how PTSD exposure therapy works, complete with video!

It also brings up an important problem that needs to be addressed before VR therapy becomes more prevalent. The article focuses on war veterans, and the studies have a high dropout rate exists because the realistic therapy is so difficult to endure. Maybe this is why (coupled with the fact it's relatively new) it's so hard to find hard numbers on VR. If you know of any, as always, please shoot me an e-mail or comment. Thanks!

Alzheimer's Study

An exciting article on the potential of DBS (deep brain stimulation) for Alzheimer's. This surgical implant procedure has traditionally been used to help Parkinson's patients regain some control and steadiness, but an accidental finding will spur new research on utilizing DBS to restore memories and brain function. It's early for sure, but it provides hope for an eventual treatment and/or cure for Alzheimer's.