Proceedings of the 2025 World Conference of the International Society for Virtual Rehabilitation

This book presents cutting-edge papers and perspectives on virtual rehabilitation and tele-rehabilitation. The book covers themes ranging from pediatrics to older adults, addressing rehabilitation of gait and mobility, upper limb movement and cognition. The articles in this book have been presented at the 2025 World Conference of the International Society for Virtual Rehabilitation (WCISVR 2025) during RehabWeek 2025. Researchers, clinicians, industry and policy makers, as well as graduate students who are interested in virtual rehabilitation will find this book a great reference and a useful learning resource.

Prof. Archambault's research focuses on the use of technology for the rehabilitation of physical disabilities through participatory research. Specifically, he is involved in the development and testing of virtual reality applications for the use of assistive mobility devices (wheelchairs, scooters, etc.). This simulator works on a standard computer, is low-cost, so that it can be used at home or in a clinical setting. Past research has shown that participants can improve their power wheelchair skills with practice in the virtual reality simulator. Ongoing work is looking at the development of simulators for manual wheelchair skills and for electric, four-wheel scooter skills. Prof Archambault also co-directs the Inclusive Society initiative, a Quebec-wide, intersectoral research network aiming to improve the social inclusion of persons with disabilities through participatory approaches.

Dr. Subramanian is an Associate Professor in the Department of Physical therapy, School of Health Professions, UT SanAntonio. His current research focusses on i) understanding the reasons for non-optimal motor improvement in the upper extremity after traumatic and acquired (e.g. Stroke) brain injury and ii) use of interventions to optimize motor improvement in the upper extremity. His research interests include use of virtual reality and robotics for upper limb rehabilitation after stroke, motor control, motor learning and outcome measurement. He serves as the member of the Editorial Board for three journals and regularly reviews manuscripts in the fields of rehabilitation and neuroscience. His work has been supported by the National Institute of Health, Canadian Institutes of Health Research and Texas Physical Therapy Foundation.

Dr. Demers is an assistant professor in the School of Rehabilitation, at the Université de Montréal and an emerging researcher at the Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Rehabilitation of Greater Montreal. She is a Junior 1 research scholar from the Fonds de la Recherche du Québec – health. Dr. Demers received her BSc in occupational therapy from the Université de Montréal, and her MSc and PhD in Rehabilitation Sciences at McGill University. She completed a post-doctoral fellowship at the Motor Behavior and Neurorehabilitation Laboratory in the Division of Biokinesiology and Physical Therapy at the University of Southern California. She is also a trained occupational therapist with clinical expertise in stroke rehabilitation. Her research interests involve the use of health technologies, including virtual rehabilitation, to better assess and optimize arm and hand motor recovery for people post-stroke. Dr. Demers is a board member of the International Society for Virtual Rehabilitation since 2018.

Dr. Wright is a Professor and Director of the Neuromotor Science Program in Temple University's College of Public Health, where he leads the Motion-Action-Perception Laboratory. He has been teaching neuroscience, motor learning, and evidence-based practice in the Physical Therapy program for the last 15 years. With degrees in Aerospace Engineering and Cognitive Neuroscience, he combines this unique background to investigate sensorimotor control in both healthy individuals and those with neurological disorders such as traumatic brain injury (TBI), PTSD, neuropathy, older adult falls, and Parkinson's disease. A key aspect of his research involves using virtual reality (VR) to assess and treat balance impairments and fall risk. His R&D efforts have led to patented IP which has resulted in commercialized VR-based assessment and rehabilitation tools for balance disorders. Many of his recent publications focus on the validation and application of this technology. His work has been supported by organizations like the Binational Science Foundation, Department of Defense, and the Veterans Administration.