Immersive VR Rehabilitation for Multiple Sclerosis

Overview

The idea is to use immersive virtual reality, bimanual tasks, and haptic/EMG feedback to support rehabilitation for people living with Multiple Sclerosis (MS). The goal is to create a flexible system that can help track progress over time and potentially improve both motor and mental health outcomes.

Because recruiting people with MS and running proper trials is not easy, I haven’t been able to move this project into a full clinical study yet. I’m keeping it here as a detailed case study and an open invitation for collaboration.

Enhanced Bimanual Rehabilitation for Multiple Sclerosis using Immersive VR

The concept combines:

  • A VR headset (immersive environment)
  • Bimanual tasks (using both hands to perform coordinated actions)
  • Sensors and haptics, such as EMG and hand-tracking, to collect useful data and provide feedback

The system is built around two VR environments:

  1. Tutorial / assessment environment
    • Gentle, guided tasks
    • Focused on learning the interface, assessing reflexes and basic responses
    • Integrates sensors and haptics for feedback
  2. Realistic scenario (e.g., grocery store simulation)
    • Everyday bimanual tasks like reaching, grasping, moving items
    • Designed to be more engaging and closer to daily life
    • Data from these tasks can be used to monitor changes in performance over time

The idea is to quantify the impact of VR rehab on:

  • Bimanual function
  • Activity limitation and participation restriction
  • Quality of life and possibly MS remission indicators

and compare that to traditional physical therapy approaches.

Research plan (high level)

Even though I haven’t run the full study, I did lay out a research plan that could be picked up by the right team or setting.

Goals

  • Determine short- and long-term impact of immersive VR rehab on:
    • Gait and balance
    • Global motor function
    • Activity limitation and participation
    • Cognitive function and mental health
  • Evaluate whether the VR-based approach offers any added benefit over standard physical therapy
  • Keep the system low-cost and flexible, so it could be used outside of a single institution

Methodology – concept stage

In a first phase, the plan focuses on:

  • Bimanual tasks performed in VR, using basic headsets and additional hardware
  • Collecting diagnostic data such as EMG, hand motion, task completion times, and error patterns
  • Starting with a proof-of-concept to refine:
    • Task design
    • Hardware setup
    • Data collection pipeline
    • User comfort and safety

Once the proof-of-concept is stable, the idea is to move toward a pilot study with people living with MS, with proper inclusion criteria, outcome measures, and statistical planning.

Because this involves vulnerable participants and clinical settings, it needs the right environment: IRB support, clinicians, therapists, and access to an MS population. That’s the part I’m currently missing.

What I’ve already done

So far, I’ve:

  • Written a research proposal and research plan outlining:
    • Background and literature review on MS and VR rehab
    • Clear objectives, methodology, and expected outcomes
    • How to compare VR rehab to traditional therapy
  • Created and presented a poster at the UND Biomedical Research Conference (2021)
  • Built a slide deck that walks through:
    • MS basics (etiology, symptoms, costs, quality of life)
    • Existing VR rehab work and the current research gap
    • The system concept and research objectives

These materials are ready and can be adapted into a grant proposal, pilot protocol, or collaborative project with the right team.

My prior VR experience

This project is not my first step into VR. Earlier in my career, I collaborated with Dr Ahmed Bentaleb and I co-authored:

Low-cost VR Collaborative System equipped with Haptic Feedback (ACM VRST)

In that work, we built a system where:

  • Multiple users join a shared VR environment as avatars
  • A Kinect sensor tracks body and gesture information
  • A haptic feedback system (microcontroller + vibrotactile motors + Wi-Fi) triggers physical sensations when avatars interact in VR

When one avatar “touches” another, the system maps that interaction to the real body and vibrates the corresponding motor, so the user actually feels the contact.

That experience gave me hands-on practice with:

  • VR engine integration (Unity)
  • Real-time networking and multi-user interaction
  • Designing and implementing haptic feedback hardware
  • Bridging virtual events and physical sensations

The MS rehab project builds directly on that foundation, but shifts the focus towards clinical and rehabilitation use cases.

Resources

You can explore some of the materials related to this project:

If you’re interested in more details (proposal, research plan, or slide deck), feel free to reach out — I’m happy to share them in the right context.

Looking for collaborators

Right now, this project is concept + research plan + preliminary artifacts, not a completed clinical trial. That’s intentional: I decided not to rush a half-baked study without proper support.

I’m particularly interested in connecting with:

  • Clinicians and physical therapists working with MS patients
  • Labs focusing on neurorehabilitation, VR rehab, or tele-rehabilitation
  • Researchers looking for VR/AI/biomedical crossover projects

If you:

  • Have access to an MS patient population or rehab infrastructure, or
  • Are interested in co-developing a pilot study or grant around VR rehab

then I’d genuinely be happy to talk and see if we can move this project forward together.

You can find my contact info at the bottom of this page.

Why this project matters to me

Beyond the academic and business side, this topic is personal. I have someone very close to me who lives with MS, and I’ve seen how the disease affects daily activities, motivation, and long-term planning.

That’s a big part of why I care about:

  • Rehabilitation that goes beyond “one-size-fits-all” exercises
  • Tools that can track progress, adapt to the person, and keep them engaged
  • Making use of VR not just as a gadget, but as a way to safely simulate real-world tasks and support both physical and mental health