ArticlePloS one2024
Acute psychological and physiological benefits of exercising with virtual reality.
Article in PloS one, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
14 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Clinical Effectiveness of Immersive Virtual Reality Exercise Interventions: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials.Journal of medical Internet research · 2026Pooled it
- Impact of 4 Weeks or More Immersive Virtual Reality on Quality of Life and Physical Activity in Older Adults: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.JMIR aging · 2026Pooled it
- Effectiveness of Virtual Reality-Complemented Pulmonary Rehabilitation on Lung Function, Exercise Capacity, Dyspnea, and Health Status in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Journal of medical Internet research · 2025Pooled it
- Personalized, physiotherapist-guided exercise programs in JIA: home-based vs. immersive virtual reality (JiaFitXR).Rheumatology (Oxford, England) · 2026Trial
- Trial
- Virtual Nature, Metaverse, and NAD⁺: A Narrative Review for Health Planning and Healthy Ageing.Health science reports · 2026Article
- Virtual reality enhances affective valence and attentional dissociation during exercise but not exercise-induced hypoalgesia.Virtual reality · 2026Article
- Acute Affective Responses and Perceived Exertion during a Single Bout of Virtual Reality Exercise.International journal of exercise science · 2026Article
- Incongruent virtual reality attenuates breathlessness and leg fatigue during stationary cycling.Virtual reality · 2026Article
- Comparative changes in problematic smartphone use tendencies across four active exercise modalities among college students: an exploratory multicategorical relative indirect-effect analysis.Frontiers in psychology · 2026Article
- Research on the influence of virtual reality on muscle fatigue during rowing ergometer exercise - pilot study.PloS one · 2026Article
- The portable wearBands resistance system increases exercise intensity during mixed-reality boxing without reducing enjoyment or flow.Frontiers in sports and active living · 2026Article
- The impact of a workplace virtual reality-delivered exercise program on central hemodynamics in people with developmental disability living in Australia: A pilot randomised waitlist-controlled study.Preventive medicine reports · 2025Article
- Comparison of Metabolic and Pulmonary Variables Between Real-Life and Mixed Reality Pickleball.Journal of functional morphology and kinesiology · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Exercise is a powerful tool for disease prevention and rehabilitation. Commercially available virtual reality (VR) devices and apps offer an immersive platform to gamify exercise and potentially enhance physiological and psychological benefits. However, no work has compared immersive exercise to closely matched 2D screen-based equivalents with the same visual and auditory stimuli. This study aims to compare the acute effects of an exercise session using a commercial immersive VR workout to the same stimuli and workout presented on a screen. 17 healthy participants (male = 7, female = 10; aged 24.18±4.56 years), completed a 12-minute guided VR boxing exercise session in FitXR™ and a screen-based equivalent. Physiological responses were recorded continuously using a heart rate monitor and telemetricmetabolic cart system. Psychological and perceptual responses were measured using their ratings of perceived exertion, the physical activity enjoyment scale, and the physical activity affect scale. In the immersive VR participants chose to engage in more intense exercise (%VO2max; p = 0.044), showed higher levels of all enjoyment subscales (p<0.05) and reported higher positive affect (p = 0.003) and lower negative affect (p = 0.045) following exercise compared to the screen-based equivalent. However, the design here could not determine which elements of immersive VR contributed to the positive effects. Immersive VR may offer a more efficient alternative to other forms of screen based and exergaming workouts and could be offered as a gateway into exercise.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.