Cold, Hard Reality vs Virtual Reality

My son asked for a VR headset for his birthday. At $300, that's more than we typically spend on birthday presents. After turning down similar requests in the past, however, this time I agreed. After all, he is at an age littered with milestones--13 years old (about to turn 14), graduating eighth grade, first communion, starting high school. He has been working hard, and it shows, so yeah, you got it. Formerly the Oculus Quest 2, now the Meta Quest 2 (the parent company of Facebook bought the company that previously produced the Quest headset) . . . it meant little to me, as I have never really looked into VR headsets. I was curious to learn about the platform and what it could do. I recall the We (Wi?) from many years ago and figured that with the pace of advancement, the hardware and software of today, some 10 years later, should be pretty impressive. It is that.

The only game we have at the moment is Beat Saber, and after letting him break things in for a day or two, I gave in to my curiosity and took it for a spin. If you're not familiar with the game, it is essentially you standing in one spot with a bunch of objects flying at you. You are holding two light sabers and have to slash (or stab) each box. With the designated hand, left or right (they are color-coded). In the designated direction (usually up, down, left, or right, but sometimes diagonal). It ranges from easy to beyond challenging, with modes of Easy, Normal, Hard, Expert, and Expert+. There are several music packages included, and several more available for purchase. The Green Day and Classic Rock caught my eye, but for my first (and so far my only) add-on music collection I bought Queen. It's a good set of songs, including Another One Bites the Dust, We Will Rock You and We are the Champions, and Bohemian Rhapsody . . . and two of my personal favorites, One Vision and I Want it All. Lots of good listening there.

Start it up, and the music starts playing, the objects start flying, and the light sabers start moving. For me, I can keep up with little difficulty on Easy and Normal, so Hard is the sweet spot at the intersection of challenging, but doable. My son can do quite well on expert, but I can rarely finish one of those. It's a maddening confusion of objects moving too fast to see and comprehend, let alone respond to. But I can usually finish a Hard level, gradually improving my performance across several repetitions.

So what does this have to do with Parkinsons? It is not intense exercise; I rarely break a sweat, unless the room is warm. For me and many other people with Parkinsons, the disease brings with it a significant deterioration of balance, rhythm, and coordination. We get clumsy. That's why falls are a danger, and why cluttered floors that seem like no big deal to most people are a nightmarish safety hazard. But plant those feet, put on the headset, grab the hand controllers, and crank up the music . . . it's off to the races! Keeping your light saber beats synchronized to the rhythm of the music, trying to keep up with on-screen instructions, exercising your reflexes, practicing your coordination. It's great therapy. I'm no PhD or movement disorder specialist, and I wonder what the researchers will find someday, but for now--for me--I'm calling it. There may or may not be long term therapeutic benefits (I suspect we will find evidence that there are), but it's more than just fun. Much like the agility and manual dexterity exercises that we sometimes do at Rock Steady Boxing; or the exercises adopted by some trainers, such as juggling, or otherwise throwing balls; or the mind-body connection of tai chi and similar activities, Beat Saber forces you to involve both mind and body. It is perception and processing as much as physical activity. It is using your affected (slower) side and your unaffected/less affected/more normal side in coordination with each other. They say it is important to stay active physically, mentally, and socially. The VR headset so far is providing at least two of those three. Maybe two and a half if you involve someone else, trading the headset back an forth (and trading stories).

I'm late for my therapy.

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