From Curiosity to Clarity: How Virtual Reality Could Reshape Concussion Recovery
This past weekend, I completed the VCS-1 course on concussion diagnosis and management, and it honestly lit a fire in me. There’s something powerful about walking away from a course feeling both energized and deeply curious. This course didn’t just walk us through checklists or flowcharts, it helped us see the person behind the symptoms, and brought in up-to-date research that really grounded the "why" behind what we do.
As clinicians, we often see concussion as a straightforward diagnosis. But it’s anything but simple. Concussion and mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) present in layers, visual and vestibular disruptions, emotional changes, cognitive fog, headaches, dizziness, neck dysfunction, and rarely does one patient’s experience match another’s. One message that really stuck with me from the course was the importance of timing. The earlier we intervene, the better the outcomes. And this isn’t just theory.
In a compelling study by Thomas et. al., it was shown that pediatric patients who delayed treatment more than 14 days post-injury were at a significantly higher risk of experiencing prolonged symptoms and delayed recovery (Thomas, Shah, Hart, & McLoughlin, 2025). That kind of delay isn’t just inconvenient, it can shape the entire trajectory of healing and quality of life for that patient.
Coming out of the course, I found myself thinking about how I could be even more creative in treating this population. I thought… What about VR? I already knew it could help, I’ve seen firsthand how powerful it is in rehab. It motivates patients, it engages multiple systems, and it meets them where they are. But this time, I wasn’t just interested in the big-picture benefits. I wanted to dig deeper into the research. I wanted to know: what does the science actually say about VR and concussion recovery, specifically?
I Knew VR Could Help - But I Wanted to See the Science
VR isn’t just a fancy gadget for gamers anymore. It's an immersive rehab tool that allows patients to engage their visual, vestibular, proprioceptive, and cognitive systems all at once, something that’s essential in concussion care. For patients overwhelmed by complex environments (like a grocery store or busy street), VR allows us to safely simulate those scenarios in a controlled setting.
In one of the more fascinating studies I came across, researchers Gabriel, Adams, and Keshavarz (2024) exposed participants, some with a history of concussion and some without, to a virtual grocery store environment. What they discovered was that individuals with concussion experienced stronger feelings of vection, an illusion of self-motion, and demonstrated more postural instability than healthy controls, particularly when the visual environment was dynamic and fast-moving. This wasn’t just a cool use of technology. It gave insight into how concussed brains process visual and vestibular information differently, and how VR could be used both to detect and retrain those sensory pathways (Gabriel et al., 2024).
It was a lightbulb moment for me. We’re constantly asking our patients to navigate a real world filled with motion, noise, and complexity. Why not help them re-integrate using tools that can simulate those challenges in a safe and structured way?
That line of thinking led me further into pediatric research, where the application of VR gets even more interesting. A growing body of evidence is showing that VR-based therapy can significantly improve coordination, motor control, and activities of daily living in children with traumatic brain injuries. In one multicenter trial, pediatric patients who received a combination of VR and conventional occupational therapy showed better outcomes in upper limb control and functional task performance than those who received conventional therapy alone (Siahaan, Ivander, & Indharty, 2024). What stood out most wasn’t just the improvement in scores, it was how motivated and engaged the children were. The immersive nature of VR seemed to bridge the gap between rehab and play, which is especially important in younger populations.
Even more promising is how adaptable VR is. You can use it to challenge visual tracking, balance control, cognitive attention, and even emotional regulation in a single session, something that would be difficult to replicate in a traditional clinic space without extensive equipment and space. And as researchers like Siahaan and colleagues pointed out, nonpharmacological strategies like VR may offer one of the most scalable and patient-friendly interventions available, particularly in pediatric care where pharmacologic risks are higher and long-term impact still being understood (Siahaan et al., 2024).
A New Way to Think About Symptoms
One of the most exciting takeaways from VCS-1 was this reminder: Concussion is not one-size-fits-all. Patients may walk in with dizziness, vision issues, anxiety, headaches, trouble sleeping, or all of the above. The real art of rehab is figuring out what that patient needs to return to their life, whether it’s sports, school, work, or simply grocery shopping without getting nauseated.
And research is catching up to that mindset.
As Gabriel et al. (2024) noted, “patients who rely more heavily on visual information often show increased postural sway, especially when visual speed increases… suggesting changes in multisensory integration after concussion” (p. 19).
In short, VR can help us isolate those triggers, train sensory integration, and gradually reintroduce complex environments, all while keeping the patient engaged and motivated.
So, What’s Next?
Finishing the VCS-1 course not only gave me new tools, it gave me a new mission. I want to dive deeper into how we, as clinicians, can continue to combine research, technology, and clinical intuition to truly change the recovery trajectory for our concussion and mTBI patients. VR isn’t just a novel therapy anymore. It’s becoming a bridge, between assessment and action, between understanding symptoms and actually treating them in real time.
What excites me even more is that the future isn’t far off, it’s already happening. As I explored the literature and reflected on the complex needs of this population, I kept coming back to how platforms like AVRwell’s AquaVision are beginning to address exactly these challenges. What started as an idea, leveraging VR/AR to meet patients where they are, is evolving into clinically relevant tools that are built for real people with real symptoms. AquaVision, in particular, stood out to me as a thoughtful, creative application of VR/AR that’s already thinking about how to make rehab more meaningful, more personalized, and ultimately more effective for this population.
Seeing these kinds of tools already in motion gives me hope. It reminds me that we’re not just imagining better care, we’re actively building it. And as more high-quality research continues to back the role of VR in concussion rehab, I’m excited to be part of the clinical community that’s pushing this work forward.
Because at the end of the day, it’s not about replacing traditional rehab, it’s about enhancing it. Especially for those patients who just aren’t progressing the way we expect, VR may be exactly what helps them turn a corner.
References:
Gabriel, G. A., Adams, M. S., & Keshavarz, B. (2024). Vection in individuals with and without concussion: Associations with postural responses and visual dependence. Concussion, 9(1). https://doi.org/10.2217/001c.125861
Siahaan, A. M. P., Ivander, A., & Indharty, R. S. (2024). Role of nonpharmacological concussion management in children: Systematic review of randomized controlled trials. Clinical and Experimental Pediatrics, 67(11), 569–579. https://doi.org/10.3345/cep.2023.01256
Thomas, D. J., Shah, S., Hart, J., & McLoughlin, J. (2025). Length of recovery from sports-related concussions in pediatric patients treated at concussion clinics. Pediatric Emergency Care. https://doi.org/10.1097/PEC.0000000000002804
Vaidya, B. P., Sharath, H. V., Brahmane, N. A., & Raghuveer, R. (2024). Evidence-Based Medical Management and Physiotherapy Rehabilitation in Pediatric Traumatic Brain Injury: A Narrative Review. Cureus, 16(9), e69573. https://doi.org/10.7759/cureus.69573
