Year: 2024 | Month: October-December | Volume: 9 | Issue: 4 | Pages: 108-128
DOI: https://doi.org/10.52403/ijshr.20240416
The Rehabilitation of Texter’s Thumb with Virtual Reality Headsets - A Systematic Review
Disha Bansal1, Sandeep Saini2, Osheen Bhandari3, Ishnoor Singh4
1Intern, 2Principal and Professor, 3Assistant Professor, 4Senior Demonstrator
1-4College of Physiotherapy, Christian Medical College & Hospital, Ludhiana, Punjab, India.
Corresponding Author: Disha Bansal
ABSTRACT
Rationale– In this day and age, it has become a troublesome task for one to resist video games or avoid texting on computers, tablets and cell phones. The continuous use of cell phones for texting and gaming leads to various injuries and one such injury is the Texter’s thumb.
Aim- The aim of this systematic literature review was to determine the effectiveness of using virtual reality headsets for Texter’s thumb rehabilitation.
Objective- To discuss the causes, symptoms, conventional treatment options and the latest alternatives provided by Artificial Intelligence (AI), i.e., virtual reality headsets, for the rehabilitation of Texter’s thumb.
Methods- The present systematic literature review was conducted according to the PRISMA 2020 statement in Web of Science, Scopus, PubMed, ResearchGate and Google Scholar databases and was limited to the title and keywords. The initial electronic search yielded 105 articles and 41 articles were eventually included in the final review.
Results- The analysis of the reviewed articles revealed that patients used virtual reality headsets for the rehabilitation of Texter’s thumb. Many subjects found these headsets easy to understand, easy to use, interesting, motivating, engaging, along with an improvement in hand and thumb function, a reduction in pain and an increase in the pinch and grip strength. A few of the users experienced other problems such as headache and visual disturbances.
Discussion- Evaluation of the articles included in the review showed that virtual reality headsets ultimately help to make thumb rehabilitation less painful. They follow the attention-distraction method as the patient gets distracted by the vastness of the virtual world and his attention is shifted from the discomfort caused by the injury to his surroundings in the virtual world. This makes VR, one of the simplest psychological therapies for the treatment of pain.
Conclusion- To conclude this systematic review, it can be stated that virtual reality headsets have indeed proved to be a boon for all the youngsters out there as the injury caused by strenuous texting can be rehabilitated through the use of AI. Nevertheless, it is still necessary to further enhance our knowledge and study in this field.
Keywords: artificial intelligence; virtual reality; texting injuries; Texter’s thumb; hand rehabilitation