Technology is moving fast in the digital age. The metaverse will soon offer a virtual space to travel in, socialize, work, and play games. Virtual games will combine fun with health promotion to help players stay fit and boost their intellectual and social skills while learning about health. Older adults of 50+ can have fun together with activities that also keep them fit and in form.

Metaverse Games

The metaverse is a virtual world that combines activities in the digital world with actions in the real world, giving users valuable new experiences.

This technology involves 3 related concepts: metaverse, virtual reality (VR), and augmented reality (AR). The metaverse is an online virtual world where users can meet and act on their own. VR is an online or offline experience accessed through VR glasses. AR is digital content overlayed on the real world.

Well-known VR games include VZfit, a cycling game from VirZOOM. Users can enjoy an experience like visiting real places around the world when they exercise at home. AR games include Pokemon GO where players get to walk and exercise.

Future Metaverse Healthcare

The pandemic and lockdown drove exponential growth in remote technology, whether for online meetings, lessons, or telemedicine with mailed prescriptions. VR and metaverse applications included live VR bicycle races.

Metaverse Healthcare Now

Exposure to this virtual world technology has prompted the health sector to apply metaverse technology. Research and testing of VR and AR technology in medicine are underway. Applications include advanced surgical training, mental health therapy, pain relief clinics, physical therapy for rehabilitation, telemedicine.

Healthcare at Home

A major turning point for the health sector from virtual technology is delivering services at home. Patients no longer need to travel and direct contact is reduced, along with the risk of infectious diseases. Medical fields now beginning to apply VR/metaverse technology include:

• Fitness Promotion: A key problem with indoor exercise is that it’s repetitive and boring. VR/metaverse technology can add variety and adventure. Various levels can offer challenges to be overcome as well as competitors or teammates.
• Therapy and Rehabilitation: A prominent example is the use of VR in rehabilitation among Parkinson's disease patients for walking and balancing.
• Telemedicine: Online medical appointments have taken off. VR and metaverse technology can help doctors examine patients online. A simulated body in a virtual world (avatar) can help patients pinpoint exactly where they have symptoms, even in areas hard to capture with a mobile camera, such as the middle of the back or back of the neck.
• Mental Health: Medical health has seen the most gains from virtual technology, from psychotherapy services, counseling in groups with shared experiences. The metaverse offers many advantages for mental health, such as reaching patients with severe anxiety who can’t leave their homes. Having a virtual body provides a feeling of safety. Not having to reveal one's identity avoids issues of social acceptance.

Benefits for Doctors and Caregivers

• Gaining skills: 3D virtual reality can help create realistic models of organs and the body for learning. Surgeons can use high-resolution mockups to test surgical plans before proceeding, greatly increasing safety for patients.
• Entertainment during therapy: VR can let chronically ill patients temporarily escape their real-world suffering. Patients can be freed to better face the challenges of physical therapy, helping therapists and caregivers work and achieve good results.

Upcoming Applications

Virtual technology in medicine is accepted by research studies and applied in mental health. In the United States, MyndVR is available in hundreds of senior living communities. The goal is to give people with mobility issues the experience of independent travel. It's like going out and experiencing the outside world, boosting cognition, vision, emotions, and physical health.

In the UK, GameChange is a VR psychotherapy program for schizophrenics with anxiety and social phobia. Treatment and research results have appeared in the medical journal the Lancet.

Proven VR programs may soon be adapted for use in Thailand.

Summary

Metaverse technology is changing the healthcare landscape, whether in promoting exercise or providing mental health services. The technology combines fun with health and can be used at home.

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Source:

• https://www.futuretaleslab.com/articles/metaverseplay
• https://medium.com/@nearhealth/healthcare-in-the-metaverse-gaming-and-virtual-reality-905353be266a
• https://www.techrepublic.com/article/healthcare-turns-to-the-gaming-industry-to-build-its-metaverse/
• https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28000926/
• https://www.antiersolutions.com/harnessing-the-potential-of-the-metaverse-to-improve-mental-health/
• https://www.myndimmersive.com/
• https://gamechangevr.com/
• https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanpsy/article/PIIS2215-0366(22)00060-8/fulltext