Over the last 18 months, we have been able to collect and evaluate patient and therapist experiences with our VR therapy system CUREO®. In 97% of the therapy sessions, patients stated that they would repeat the therapy with CUREO®. In addition, therapists were able to determine increased therapy motivation in 94.5% of therapy sessions.
For CUREosity, the patient and the therapist are at the center of the development for CUREO®. For this reason, we distributed questionnaires to the therapists at the Saint Mauritius Therapy Clinic (STMTK) in Meerbusch with the request that they complete them during or after therapy. More than 200 questionnaires were answered and evaluated by us.
About Saint Mauritius Therapy Clinic
The STMTK specializes in neurological rehabilitation. On site, the main diagnosis most frequently treated with CUREO® is stroke with approx. 85,5%. Furthermore, patients with PNP/CIP/GBS, spinal cord disease, post covid, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's disease, paraplegia and traumatic brain injury were treated with CUREO® (Table).
Main diagnosis | Absolute number of treatments | Percentage |
Stroke | 171 | 85,5% |
PNP/CIP/GBS | 10 | 5% |
Spinal cord disease | 9 | 4,5% |
Post-Covid | 1 | 0,5% |
Multiple sclerosis | 4 | 2% |
Parkinson's | 3 | 1,5% |
Paraplegia | 1 | 0,5% |
Traumatic brain injury | 1 | 0,5% |
Total | 200 | 100% |
In Germany, most stroke patients are over 60, which is reflected in the STMTK treatment age groups. Thus, 25% 26-60-year-old patients were treated with CUREO® and 75% were over 60 years of age. The ratio of women and men was similar.
Positive results of the VR study
Particularly common were arm transport, exploration to the left or right, bilateral work, arm and hand coordination, and also cognitive skills such as concentration and memory.
The patient was asked after the therapy if he would like to do it again, to which 97% of the patients answered with a "yes". The therapists could additionally confirm that 94,5% of the patients showed an increased motivation due to the VR therapy with CUREO® (Figure 1).
Figure 1
Motion sickness prevention
It is additionally important in VR therapy that patients do not feel any discomfort during the therapy. That is why we asked: "Did you experience any side effects (e.g., dizziness, nausea, headache) during CUREO® VR therapy?". None of the patients complained of motion sickness, which confirms our decision to continue developing CUREO® with a very low latency. Read more in this blog post.
Overall, 95,5% of patients treated with CUREO® were completely free of side effects (Figure 2).
Few complained during or after the therapy about anxiety, headache or neck pain, mainly caused by the weight of the headset. Considering the average age of over 61 years and the severity of the diseases treated, we are pleased with the low number of side effects caused by VR therapy. Moreover, all side effects were reversible within a short time after discontinuation of the VR headset.
Figure 2
The results show that therapy with CUREO® can be very motivating for neurologically impaired patients and thus represents a valuable therapy method. Furthermore, the results encourage us to further develop CUREO® as well as to design additional methods that sustainably improve patient care.
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