Virtual Reality Therapy for Fall Prevention in Older Adults A Comparative Study to Conventional Exercise

Purpose The purpose of this critically appraised topic is to investigate if VR-HMD interventions have a superseding impact on older adults in preventing falls in comparison to conventional physical therapy balance exercises. Introduction Increases in technology, one of the newest being virtual reality, has positively impacted the world of rehabilitation. There are many different types of virtual reality systems that are used, but the most common is the Virtual Reality Head Mounted Display (VR-HMD). In the United States, 28% of adults aged 65 and older report falling each year. This is significant because falls are the leading cause of injury-related death among this population, and the age-adjusted fall death rate is increasing