Publicly traded world medical gadget firm Penumbra expanded its portfolio to incorporate virtual reality choices by way of its REAL Immersive System in 2019. The system is designed to assist clinicians handle the person wants of sufferers in a rehabilitation setting.
The corporate then expanded its VR choices with the REAL i-Collection in 2021, bringing immersive, gaze-based experiences to care suppliers and psychological well being professionals. Earlier this 12 months, it launched its y-Collection, specializing in bodily and cognitive rehabilitation.
Adam Elsesser, president, chairman and CEO of Penumbra, joined MobiHealthNews to debate Penumbra’s REAL system choices and the way the platform is altering therapeutic rehabilitation.
MobiHealthNews: Why did you determine to broaden and go into the VR realm?
Adam Elsesser: That is comparatively easy. We’ve by no means seen ourselves at Penumbra the way in which different individuals prefer to categorize us. We began out as a stroke firm – then, after we went into the peripheral facet, you recognize, the remainder of the physique. It was, “Effectively, maintain on. I assumed you have been a stroke firm.” We have by no means restricted ourselves to that sort of pondering. We see it as a easy factor. If there are people who find themselves affected by some type of regardless of the situation is likely to be and we predict we are able to create an answer, that is type of our mandate. We occurred to begin with stroke. It was one thing we understood comparatively properly and thought we had an answer. We moved into the remainder of the physique for a similar actual purpose.
We’re not a expertise firm. We’re not significantly enamored with the thought of VR outdoors of this use. It is actually, although, a singular instrument for serving to individuals affected by a fairly big selection of circumstances.
MHN: You mentioned it treats totally different circumstances. What circumstances does the REAL System deal with?
Elsesser: We initially centered on rehabilitation coming from a stroke, which we knew fairly properly. [We] understood the way in which the mind interacts after a stroke, what neuroplasticity is, and the way you would assist encourage and profit from neuroplasticity with a instrument of VR. We then understood that to imply it may do a lot of various things past that exact use case, into different types of bodily rehabilitation – the place you are, in actual fact, encouraging motion that’s in any other case onerous or not enjoyable or disagreeable – and into extra pure psychological well being areas, like stress discount.
MHN: Are you able to inform me how the REAL System works?
Elsesser: It is utilizing the instrument of digital actuality – the concept that you set a headset on and are, in impact, transported to a special place. We’ve totally different variations, relying on the medical situation.
So, now we have the y-Collection, which is the power to see and observe your physique in that have. That’s significantly designed for issues within the rehabilitation discipline, however will probably be expanded to different purposes the place seeing your individual physique means that you can be extra engaged and doubtlessly have a deeper skill to work together with no matter that have is, however significantly, if you have to know the way motion goes. Are you shifting your hand up? At what angle? What sort of rotation? You may measure all of that actually precisely with our sensors, that are proprietary. They don’t seem to be optic-based. They don’t seem to be the everyday type of belongings you see within the on a regular basis industrial headsets which can be accessible.
After which, now we have a headset alone with none sensors, or with none even hand controllers. It is all based mostly on gaze so that folks in different settings, who may even have restricted motion on their fingers or their grip is not there, needn’t suppose that approach. They will simply management it with their head. And that is sometimes, we name it the i-Collection, for extra psychological well being purposes.
MHN: How do these methods assist therapists carry out their work?
Elsesser: As an example you had a stroke and also you misplaced mobility or partial mobility on the suitable facet of your physique. Let’s simply focus in your proper arm, for instance. In an effort to begin to regain motion on the suitable facet of your physique, we do rehab. Rehab is just repetitive movement time and again, as a lot as you possibly can to attempt to retrain the mind. The explanation you possibly can’t transfer your arm after a stroke is that the mind tissue that governs that motion is not viable. The stroke knocked it out, if you’ll. So the elemental precept of neuroplasticity is you possibly can put that operate elsewhere. You may retrain one other a part of the mind to try this operate, but it surely’s onerous work and never everybody can do it. It is terribly tedious. And doing it in digital actuality is less complicated due to the operate. You may trick the mind sooner.
The therapist controls the rehab session. So there is a pill that comes with it. And that pill has two components to it. One is that the entire workout routines are managed by the therapist. They choose which one they use and so they additionally management, inside the train, what is occurring. As well as, they see what you are seeing on their pill. In order that they’re very a lot in line after which on the finish they get a report that measures all these actions, and so they can take a look at it and see how you probably did in comparison with how you probably did final time and the time earlier than. So it is actually constructed for the affected person, but it surely’s additionally constructed very a lot with the therapist in thoughts.
The important thing right here is to not eliminate therapists. I believe typically individuals suppose that expertise is attempting to switch the therapist. Therapists are wonderful, and ultimately, we’ll have a house model that the therapist can also management, the place you are able to do the expertise remotely. But additionally then, the therapist may give individuals homework that’s managed by them. So, it is not like they’re simply placing it on and taking part in, however they’re doing the workout routines that therapists can take a look at and see the information round your motion. It is all recorded. It’s extremely a lot a healthcare-focused instrument.
Our purpose right here is, and I believe that is actually essential and it is in all probability apparent from what I’ve already mentioned, we do not consider in VR or the immersive world as an finish. There’s some firms – I will not identify them [whispers “Meta or Facebook”] – however they consider you need to reside in that faux world perpetually, as a result of you then’ll spend cash and generate profits, and so they’ll management all the things you do. That is bizarre. I will not do it. I do not suppose most individuals are going to do it. That is not the purpose. Our purpose is to get you higher as quick as potential to reside in the true world. And that is why we named the product the REAL System, as a result of the purpose is to reside in the true world and use this solely as a therapeutic instrument to get again to the true world. And it is actually essential that we are saying that as a result of I believe, sadly, the ability of this expertise has been conflated a bit with all this different nonsense, and I believe it is essential to make that actually essential differentiated level.
