Q & A With a Practicing Director of Rehabilitation Using the XR Therapy System
We had the privilege of speaking with Jason Edwards, Director of Rehabilitation at St Bernards Villa, who has been using the XR Therapy System across a myriad of patients and treatment profiles for the last 6 months providing almost 500 VR therapy exercises to patients. Mr. Edwards has been practicing as a Physical Therapist for thirteen years, is board certified in Geriatrics and Vestibular Rehabilitation and has served as the Director of Rehabilitation at St. Bernards Villa for the last seven years. He is also certified in Power Moves and Lee Silverman Voice Techniques (LSVT) which are both heavily utilized in Parkinson’s Disease treatment protocols. With all of these credentials and his current hands on experience, we were pleased to have the opportunity to ask Mr. Edwards some questions and share his experiences with the XR Therapy System below.
HOW DID YOU GET STARTED WITH THE XR THERAPY SYSTEM?
A colleague from St. Bernards told me about the XR Therapy System after having been introduced to the new therapy modality at a technology fair. The St. Bernards team prides itself on a unique nimbleness when it comes to reviewing new technology and treatment protocols. My colleague took the steps to get a technology evaluation started.
I think that is really where rehabilitation is moving towards, technology based in the future. I had never had any experience with Virtual Reality, so I was pretty intrigued when he brought it to my attention. Once I started doing some reading on case studies and some other research that was out there, I saw that there was quite a bit of benefit to it.
It’s pretty high tech equipment, once you get past the learning curve with the board certified training program NRVR provides, it’s pretty easy to operate, set up and calibrate. My biggest concern at first when we first started was how much time is this going to take to setup and then disinfect, but all that has really been a breeze.
WHAT RESULTS HAVE YOU SEEN BY IMPLEMENTING THE XR THERAPY SYSTEM?
We Are Documenting Better Patient Outcomes
Being one of the only facilities in the area that are using Virtual Reality, using the XR Therapy System program has been able to open doors to different challenges for the patients. A lot of our patients, whether it’s due to vestibular issues or whether it’s due to pain, or fear of falling, many of them are just very apprehensive about moving in and out of their comfort zone. Whether you’re doing strength training, balance training, gait or mobility exercises they are very hesitant to do anything that’s really challenging to them. So, what I have noticed, especially using the Retail Therapy™, you’re having patients that if you’re looking at functional reach and you’re having them do it just in the clinic, your numbers aren’t going to be that great. But, you have them in VR and they have a whole different task to focus on, you’re seeing them move a lot more freely than what they normally do. So that’s one of the things I enjoy the most about doing it because I think it gives something else to focus on.
We Are Seeing Better Patient Compliance and Motivation
I think it’s really easy for patients to kind of get frustrated or to maybe lack motivation as their disease progresses or you know all of the sudden they now have a major stroke or something like that. Sometimes it can be hard for patients to buy into something, so I think VR is a good option to kind of help with patient compliance and motivation. I know that was a big selling point for you guys was those two things and that seemed to happen with using virtual reality.
We Can Create Meaningful Change for Patients
A lot of our patients have pretty complex diagnoses and sometimes it can be challenging to find an appropriate treatment for them to produce really meaningful change. When it comes to a Functional ADL program, it has been easy to add patient-centric challenges with the XR Therapy System.
We Can Create More Challenging Treatment Environments
I think it’s been great, and it’s such a functional ADL type program to bring into it and then the other things just like any other treatment you would do, you’re always constantly thinking about,”How can I challenge this more? What can we do to progress this?” So finding different ways, whether it’s unstable surfaces or adding a weighted vest or adding some type of cognitive challenge, to me, it’s been pretty easy to add those kinds of challenges with the XR Therapy System.
HAS THE XR THERAPY SYSTEM HELPED YOUR PRACTICE?
I Have a New Treatment Option That Can Save Time
The XR Therapy System gives me another treatment option for patients. As far as time goes, the system is quick and easy to set up, especially if you have a game plan set on what you’re doing with that patient when they come in. A lot of times, I see patients, I don’t know what we’re going to do that day, I go off what I see and what I feel from the patient, and we figure out how we’re going to challenge them. If you know exactly what you’re going to work on that day with them, especially during virtual reality, you can spend a whole treatment there doing that stuff. A lot of times, we might do 30 minutes of virtual reality, and then we might go and work on some type of legacy balance type activity restraint or strength training. I’ll say that every patient it’s averaged to a 20 to 30 minute treatment.
New Patients Are Seeking Us Out
Since advertising the XR Therapy System that is now available at St. Bernards Villa, we have had three new patients specifically come in just for the physical therapy with virtual reality. One patient in particular, who has cerebral palsy, is 60 years old and cognitively intact. She has had several tendon surgeries and contractures, and spasticity, so standing has been a challenge for her. In fact, she’s pretty much given up walking without any kind of assistive device, but her goal is to be able to stand and maybe take a few steps without it. We’ve put her in the virtual reality program, and she’s done pretty good standing. This is only her third treatment, so I don’t have any objective data on her, but so far, so good!
We Have New Billing Opportunities
For billing, we’re able to use some pretty good reimbursement charges, such as neuromuscular reeducation. Productivity-wise, we’re seeing that it’s not lowering it. It’s raising it.
Please review the services offered by St. Bernards Villa to determine if they may be a good clinical partner for you. St. Bernards Villa may be contacted at:
St. Bernards Villa
2217 West Parker Road
Jonesboro, AR 72401
(870) 207-6200
If you would like your experience with the XR Therapy System to be featured here, please reach out to our Support Team or give us a call at (855) 589-8326.
If the XR Therapy System can provide benefit to your practice, please reach out to our Sales Team or schedule a demonstration at your convenience.
