Exploring the Use of Virtual Reality Applications in Patients With a Diagnosis of Motor Neurone Disease

Motor Neurone Disease (MND) is a chronic progressive neurological condition where people experience weakness of muscles leading to pain and restriction of movement as well as problems with swallowing, breathing and communication.

As people become increasingly immobile, they become restricted in their ability to perform activities of daily living, access the outdoors, participate in preferred occupational roles or engage in leisure activities. Consequently, there is a deterioration in their ability to experience well being and have quality of life. There is also a significant carer burden as the carer spends long hours in the day looking after the person. The average disease trajectory lasts between 3-5 years, followed by death. More recently, the use of Virtual Reality (VR) technology is being recognised in the field of health. This technology uses the interactions between an individual and a computer generated environment to stimulate different sensory modalities such as visual and auditory. The technology can be accessed commonly using head mounted goggles or head sets. The entertaining or stimulating effect of VR is useful in redirecting the person's attention away from the distressing experiences, such as pain and anxiety. The purpose of this study is to establish if VR is useful for people with MND and if it helps improve their well being.