JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Pulmonary rehabilitation can help people with chronic lung diseases to improve lung function and to reduce side symptoms such as stress, anxiety, and chronic pain. Several methods and breathing techniques were developed to control the functional outcomes of breathing and enhance pulmonary rehabilitation. Virtual Reality is a novel technology for customized implementation and self-control of pulmonary rehabilitation.

Objective:

This article focuses on all types of Virtual Reality technologies (Νon-Immersive, Semi-Immersive, Fully-Immersive) from 2010 to 2023 which have been developed and released to manage pulmonary rehabilitation.

Methods:

The research was conducted with the use of seven electronic libraries. The libraries mentioned are the following: ACM Digital Library, Google Scholar; IEEE Xplore, MEDLINE, PubMed, Sage, and ScienceDirect. Thematic analysis was used as an additional methodology to classify our findings based on the themes. The themes we used included: VR training, VR interaction, types of Virtual Environments, VR effectiveness, VR feasibility, VR design strategies, VR limitations, and VR future directions.

Results:

A total of 2319 articles were identified, and after a detailed screening, 32 studies reviewed. Based on all the studies that were reviewed, (29/32) studies with a positive label (+), and 3/32 with a neutral label () it is suggested that VR can be an effective solution for pulmonary rehabilitation for lung cancer, COPD, asthma patients, and individuals and children who are dealing with mental health-related disorders such as anxiety. Overall, the results indicated that VR can enhance the functional outcomes of pulmonary rehabilitation, increase breathing body awareness, and improve relaxation techniques.

Conclusions:

The identified studies indicated that Virtual Reality can improve lung function and reduce the aforementioned side symptoms. In general, positive outcomes have been reported, but with inconclusive and inadequate results. Further research needs to be conducted, to articulate clearly, under what circumstances breathing biofeedback in Virtual Reality is an effective tool for pulmonary rehabilitation, and under what factors Virtual Reality can be feasible for real-world deployment.