Accepted for/Published in: JMIR Formative Research
Date Submitted: Jan 10, 2023
Date Accepted: Aug 31, 2023
Warning: This is an author submission that is not peer-reviewed or edited. Preprints - unless they show as "accepted" - should not be relied on to guide clinical practice or health-related behavior and should not be reported in news media as established information.
A Proof of Concept for Virtual Exercise in Clinical Medicine
ABSTRACT
Background:
Science is beginning to establish the benefits of the use of virtual reality (VR) in healthcare. This therapeutic approach may be an appropriate complementary treatment for some mental illnesses. It could prevent high levels of morbidity and improve the physical health of patients. For many years, the literature has shown the benefits of physical exercise on health. Physical exercise in a VR environment may improve the management of mild-to-moderate mental health conditions. In this context, we developed a virtual environment combined with an ergocycle (the APTICE system).
Objective:
The aim of this study is to investigate the impact of physical exercise in a VR environment.
Methods:
A population of 14 healthy subjects (11 men and three women, mean age 43.28), undertook 15 minutes of immersive physical exercise using the system. Measures included mindfulness and immersion disposition, subjective perceptions of sensory information, user experience, and VR experience (i.e., psychological state, flow, presence).
Results:
Results highlight, first, that APTICE is a useful tool, as the user experience is positive (pragmatic quality = .99; hedonic quality-stimulation = 1.90; hedonic quality-identification = .67; attractiveness = 1.58). Second, the system can induce a positive psychological state (negative emotion, p = .06), and an experience of flow and presence. Third, individual immersive and mindful disposition play a role in the VR experience. Finally, our findings suggest that there is a link between the subjective perception of sensory information and the VR experience.
Conclusions:
These results indicate that one sense may prevail over others and, therefore, that individual factors need to be considered. Overall, the APTICE system could be a proof-of-concept to explore the benefits of virtual physical exercise in clinical medicine. Clinical Trial: No trial registration
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