Dnipro medics start using virtual reality system to rehabilitate wounded soldiers

At the Way to Health rehabilitation center in Dnipro, medics use VR therapy to rehabilitate soldiers.

This is the first and only center to use a simulator to relieve phantom pain, overcome stress and anxiety, and train motor skills, Suspilne reports.

What is the problem?

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky states over 10,000 soldiers were wounded as of 2022. Servicemen who were injured during a combat mission require complex treatment, rehabilitation, and some need prosthetics.

Hospitals are beginning to use the latest technologies to make their rehabilitation process as effective as possible.

What is the solution?

The Way to Health rehabilitation center in Dnipro uses VR-based therapy to rehabilitate Ukrainian soldiers.

The center's director Mykyta Zhalnin says their center is the only one in the state to possess such a tool. The system helps with phantom pain, overcoming stress and anxiety, and training motor skills.

The center has been operating since August 2022 and is the only private institution in Ukraine that specializes in war trauma.

How does it work?

Rehabilitation takes place in a special room with a mirror and training equipment. The patient wears a helmet and goggles; trackers and sensors are attached.

According to the assistant Karina, these devices help people learn to control their movements. There are different scenarios for training.

"For example, a patient sees a bird on the right. A log will be thrown at it. He needs to take control of this bird so that the log does not crash into it. This is for those who have weak arm muscles. If a person has an amputation, it removes phantom pains."

The kitchen at the center is also unusual, says the assistant. All the dishes can be shattered into pieces, which develops motor skills and brain reactions.

Mykyta Zhalnin says his patients include not only military personnel but also civilians who were injured during the war.

"These are mine-blast injuries, shrapnel wounds, gunshot wounds, burn injuries, musculoskeletal, craniocerebral, including concussions, strokes with severe concussions, amputations, post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety disorder, and sleep disorders."

Rehabilitation lasts from two weeks to four and a half months.

The director recalls that one of the most difficult patients was a man with 70% burns on his body, who saw the first results in two weeks.

"His range of motion doubled, and our psychologists worked with him. Two weeks later, when he got the result, he thanked us. He realized that life goes on."

Viktor Kulish has a shrapnel wound to his spine and a fragment in his hip. He was injured during a combat mission. The man underwent surgery in Dnipro here and is now in rehabilitation. His sessions on the simulator and with a psychologist last two hours.

"Whenever I didn't go to rehab, everyone said I wouldn't walk, so I would get over it. And here they immediately said that it would work out. I started walking. I can see the progress. I was lying down, my legs did not move at all."

So far, more than 530 people have been healed and brought back to life at the Way to Health Center.