Can VR Help Treat Vertigo?

It’s quite likely, according to one team of psychologists from Cardiff University in the UK.

Individuals with vertigo often suffer from an array of symptoms, including nausea and dizziness. Many will report that places where repetitive visual patterns are present, such as local grocery stores, can trigger an episode.

The team of psychologists have reported they are using VR technology to create virtual environments what help them both diagnose and treat the condition.

“We don’t know very much about what causes visual vertigo at the moment.” said Dr Georgina Powell with the School of Psychology.

“There also are not many effective rehabilitation therapies available, so the aim of our project is to try and understand those two things.”

She noted that vertigo can be very debilitating to the patient, adding “It can mean that a patient can’t leave their house because they feel so sick and nauseous every time they walk around in their visual environment.”

“They can’t work, they just can’t function.”

The team of psychologists noted that one of the most remarkable observations they made with the patients they were researching was the variability of what sparked the symptoms.

“All the patients are very different and some environments might trigger symptoms for some patients whilst other environments might trigger symptoms for others,” said Dr Powell.

“So by using virtual reality we can have vast flexibility over the different types of environments that we can show to patients and we can find out what their individual triggers might be and then tailor specific rehabilitation therapies.”

As VR and virtual reality headsets continue to take a foot hold in our world, it’s very exciting to see the technology being used not only for fun and games, but to help treat serious medical conditions and to improve the lives of people around the globe.

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