Meet Mike, Rehabilitation Patient with MS Improves with VR
Meet Mike, a 53-year-old rehabilitation patient diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS) in January 2013. Mike, an Indianapolis resident and music lover, used to be a teacher and had his own painting business. Since his diagnosis, Mike had to forego his teaching. He now conquers each day with his wife, Heather, and their dog Ozzy (named after the prince of darkness) by his side.
As for Mike, he experiences impairments like difficulty walking, muscle weakness, spasticity, incoordination, decreased balance, and overall, decreased functional mobility. Mike started rehabilitation sessions with Megan, his Northbound Health, physical therapist, in September 2021. (Northbound Health provides in home therapy for patients with life-altering medical conditions and injuries.)
Early in the sessions, Megan introduced Mike to the flagship REAL® System. Like Mike, many of the patients and families that Megan treats have difficulty receiving specialized care. With Northbound Health’s unique model of care and mobile rehabilitation centers, therapists can bring an innovative tool, like REAL® System, to them.
Mike was blown away by REAL® System and how it enhanced his therapeutic experience. He commented, “Wow! I found it to be very helpful with my rehabilitation. You feel like you are in a cartoon world. It was just how it would look in a normal setting but was animated. It was amazing and I can’t wait for more sessions!”
Mike did a variety of exercises using REAL® System Activities. Megan was very creative, and she incorporated REAL® System Activities like Catch & Glow, Summit Rescue, and Chuckleball Arena, that helped Mike’s dynamic sitting balance and activities of daily living (ADLs). These activities helped improve his arms’ strength to assist with functional transfers, improving tolerance and endurance for activities, improving trunk and upper extremity range of motion, and improving overall attention and safety awareness.
Megan enjoys how REAL® System allows her patients to not focus on what they would typically focus on during therapy.
“It is an alternative reality. Mike can focus on the activities in the screen in front of him versus how he is feeling personally. He doesn’t focus on the muscle fatigue he may be feeling, falling, and/or the distracting environment around him, just to name a few.”
REAL® System has the power of making patients feel like they can do more in the virtual world because they are not thinking about their impairments.
Mike looked back on his sessions and said, “I would reach out and put objects in different areas. I wanted to do much more because it was so interesting but Megan had to control it so I would not overdo it. It was a great way to exercise without even knowing it. I would highly recommend it to anyone.”
Determined to overcome his impairments, some of Mike’s therapy goals include regaining the strength to get up off the floor after falling or to help with transfers. Megan has seen a great deal of progress over the course of Mike’s sessions with REAL® System. “REAL® System has improved Mike’s posture and sitting balance, unknowingly to him, while he is immersed in the system. This demonstrates to me that he has more underlying automatic reactions still intact and has great potential for further improvements in therapy.”
A special thank you to Kearstin Hamad, REAL® System Care Specialist, for capturing Mike and Megan’s journey with REAL® System. This story is an example of how engaging, versatile, and mobile REAL® System is for meeting patients where they are on their rehabilitation path to progress.
REAL® System offers a wide variety of immersive programs including but not limited to, Catch & Glow, Hot Air Balloon, Music in Motion, Hide and Seek, Mad Tavern and Sunrise.
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