The use of the computer assisted rehabilitation environment in assessment and rehabilitation

Purpose. The purpose of this review article was to review and analyze the available literature regarding one of the most advanced virtual reality technologies. We reviewed and analyzed the use of the computer-assisted rehabilitation environment system in assessment and rehabilitation. Materials and methods. PubMed, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, Scopus, and Physiotherapy Evidence Database databases were searched from inception to October 2021. We used the search term “Computer Assisted Rehabilitation Environment” and included articles which directly or indirectly addressed the use of the computer assisted rehabilitation environment system in assessment, rehabilitation and on healthy people. We excluded articles not published in the English language, conference proceedings, reports of abstracts only, and duplicated articles. Also, articles addressing the use of other virtual reality technologies whether they used fully immersive, semi-immersive, or non-immersive interfaces or virtual reality devices such as the Wii or Xbox gaming technologies were also excluded. The relevant studies were collected and critically analyzed. Results. Our search retrieved 205 articles, with 119 duplicates identified and removed. Following screening 86 articles, we included 50 relevant articles which directly or indirectly addressed the computer-assisted rehabilitation environment system and were published in scientific journals. Twenty-two articles used the computer assisted rehabilitation environment for biomechanical analysis, 15 articles used the computer assisted rehabilitation environment for rehabilitation, 4 articles were reviews, and 9 articles addressed the computer assisted rehabilitation environment in other ways. Conclusion. The computer assisted rehabilitation environment system is a promising tool for assessment and rehabilitation. It can be used with different concepts to assist in diagnosis and treatment, can be used for healthy individuals and with patients, and basically follows biomechanical principles in operating. The high cost and complex infrastructure, however, may be the restriction to its use for research purposes and in clinical practice.