Virtual reality boosts rehab in Israel
From: Yahoo News - 12/17/2006
By: Steven Stanek

On most days, a tumor on Zvulun Muola's spinal cord keeps him confined to a
wheelchair, but today he is standing on a small, wooden dinghy gliding
downstream, navigating between the islands of a tropical paradise. 

Muola, whose legs are partially paralyzed, is among a handful of disabled
patients in Israel using the Computer Assisted Rehabilitation Environment.
The virtual-reality system puts patients at the helm of a life-size video
game, forces them to use atrophied muscles and teaches the basic skills
necessary to recover from severe injuries and disorders. 

The system immerses the patients in a fully reactive virtual and physical
environment, using tiny sensors placed on the body, 12 high-speed infrared
cameras, a moving platform that reacts to the patients' weight distribution
and a life-size 3-D projection screen. 

Photo:
http://d.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/net/20061217/capt.0bd4aedc9e600d5707cd819059c29506.jpg?x=180&y=114&sig=PmY9zRKEtGDQlm_JT.5v_A--

Photo caption:
Israelis Zvulun Muola, left, and Shalev Malki, right, sit in wheelchairs
before receiving physiotherapy treatment. 

Read the entire article at:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061217/ap_on_hi_te/virtual_reality_rehab
http://www.kimatv.com/news/tech/4945952.html