VR used to help injured military personnel at the DNRC & DMRC

The DMRC revealed its state-of-the-art rehabilitation facilities for the first time thanks to coverage from multiple news outlets this week, including a live broadcast on BBC Radio 5Live on 14th May.

In this BBC article you can see how the new Defence and National Rehabilitation Centre and Defence Medical Rehabilitation Centre at Stanford Hall are using Motek‘s advanced virtual reality (VR) technology to help injured military personnel.

The Computer Assisted Rehabilitation Environment (CAREN) is the first High End 360 degree dome version of the system in Europe. The CAREN High End is a versatile, multi-sensory system used for clinical analysis, rehabilitation, and the evaluation and training of human movement, balance and gait. Other variations of the CAREN include the CAREN Extended, as used by rehabilitation facilities such as the Brain and Spinal Injury Centre (BASIC) in Salford.

“In three months time, I will be able to see how I’ve improved. For me to see what I’m doing is amazing,” says Flt Lt Nathan Jones, who injured his back on a flight to Afghanistan five years ago. He has since had three operations to repair nerve damage, and has only just started to walk without a stick again. “It shows which muscles are firing. I’m amazed at how badly I was walking. It feels brutal but it takes something like this to pinpoint where I’m going wrong.”

DMRC clinical research manager Russ Coppack says: “It is a fully immersive environment. It allows us to place the patients in a real-world environment. It shows exactly the position of your body – it’s very hard to give yourself self-feedback, because you can’t see. Using apparatus like this, you get a full visual on it. It takes something like that to actually highlight and emphasise what your failings are.”

In the coverage you can also see the DMRC’s gait lab in full operation, using AMTI’s powerful Optima force plate technology to deliver world-leading gait analysis. Partnered with Vicon motion capture, patients can receive in-depth real-time feedback on their performance.

Summit Medical and Scientific were proud to install the Motek CAREN High End, AMTI Optima force plates and Myon wireless EMG sensors at the DNRC last year. Read more.