2024 Children's of Alabama/UAB Annual Report

Growth & Technology

Extended Reality Improves the Mental and Physical Health of Children with Disabilities: Here is How By Anna Jones

Researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham are using extended reality to help improve the mental and physical health of children with disabilities. Byron Lai, Ph.D., an assistant professor in the UAB Division of Pediatric Rehabilitation Medicine, and the division research team of Ashley Wright, Raven Young and Bailey Hutchinson, combine behavioral change theories, telemedicine and extended reality in their recent research as they work to improve the physical and mental health of children with disabilities.

Byron Lai, Ph.D.

Physical Benefits Children with disabilities are three times more likely to have cardiometabolic disease versus their peers with no disabilities, according to a study in the World Journal of Diabetes. Lai says there currently are very few options for children with mobility disabilities to perform health enhancing aerobic exercise. Extended reality provides an enjoyable and accessible form of aerobic exercise to children. Most importantly, extended reality allows them to exercise at a moderate intensity while using only their arms for movement. This helps children with mobility disabilities to get the amount of exercise they need to improve their cardiovascular health. Many of the children Lai works with had never participated in a serious exercise program until they joined one of the several extended reality studies provided by the division team at UAB and Children’s of Alabama.

2024 Academic Annual Report

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