Metaverse and Healthcare- will metaverse benefit the healthcare & fitness industry?

Considering Metaverse for the healthcare & fitness segment is like powering & reshaping the healthcare industry with the potential of technicality & virtuality. For many years healthcare sector was experiencing a physical interaction between healthcare workers and the patients while sharing & receiving treatments operative care of other interactions. Then, the inclusion of mobile apps and VR has changed the landscape of the healthcare system and started giving the perks of technical advancement. Technologies have streamlined the various healthcare process like consulting a doctor, ordering the medications, and receiving their diagnosis reports through telehealth.

Considering the latest growth of medical technology, entering into Metaverse would list various benefits into the account of the healthcare industry.

• The global Medtech industry’s revenue stood at approximately 384 billion U.S. dollars in 2020.
• This represented a 37 percent increase since 2011
• The market is forecasted to increase to around 600 billion U.S. dollars by 2024.
• The telemedicine market was projected to be valued at nearly 460 billion U.S. dollars by 2030
• The telemedicine market in the U.S. was forecast to grow to an estimated 35 billion dollars by 2025

Source

Considering the growth of digital healthcare system after global pandemic:

Research conducted on 398 healthcare professionals after the pandemic noted that almost 20 percent of patient appointments will still be conducted via telemedicine, compared to 2 percent beforehand and 61 perhaps during the pandemic.

But, to cut the remaining barriers and provide the healthcare system a new digital, virtual & real feel, Metaverse is introduced. To make the process of medication more mesmerizing than ever before, Metaverse is coined in the market.

But, will metaverse benefit the healthcare & fitness industry?

Let’s curate some of the major sectors of the healthcare & fitness industry, where we can see the magic of metaverse in coming years.

Before digging deep, let me know something about metaverse:

Introducing Metaverse: The new boon of the tech-era:

Metaverse is a mind-blowing concept coined for decades but is booming now after a statement from Mark Zukerberg’s new announcement.

A metaverse is a network of 3D virtual words focused on social connection. This is the concept where technologies like 3D, AR, VR are combined to create a wonderful atmosphere where animated avatars of physical selves will be able to virtuality perform all the activities right from shopping to gaming to traveling and more in the future.

Metaverse: A new-age of virtual healthcare & fitness system

Today’s world is led by various interactive and robust technologies where people enjoy performing various tasks like shopping, gaming, food-ordering, and healthcare & fitness activities. But, more than today’s telehealth, the future will experience a great atmosphere where they’ll feel more like rich human interaction that recreate the in-person experience.

Let’s put some light on the areas of healthcare & fitness where we’ll see a major boom after the inclusion of metaverse touch.

Treating Mental Healthcare:

Virtual mental healthcare treatment is something no less than magic. It helps remove anxiety, stress, and other mental problems. As per the doctors, it has been noted that various doctors prescribe VR games to treat mental illnesses like brain fog, PTSD (Post-traumatic stress disorder), ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) of patients.

Research by Oxford stated that the patients who have been treated using automated VR therapy had experienced a 38% decrease in anxiety & other symptoms.

Metaverse will open the doors for enhanced mental treatment where the patient gets treated with the help of VR & AR technologies and will unlock the power of realism while getting treated.

Interactive Medical Learning:

Medicine learning is something that should be done purely and precisely. Hence, medicine learning requires advanced tools and technologies to have advanced visuospatial perception. Medical learning requires a broad aspect to get learners assisted with the best of their knowledge. Whether it is organ surgery or understanding the human body structure and other physiological cellular learning, medical learning requires a vast suite of technological advancements.

With the inclusion of technologies, medical learning could be more interactive, especially where hands skills are required. Technologies like AR VR enhance various medical learning areas, including the surgical process where trainees allow to perform the major steps of surgery on a virtual patient.

Metaverse would open extended doors for individuals associated with the healthcare domain and medical learning in various sectors like diagnosis, surgical training, improving medicare skills, etc.

Improvising Surgical Process Assessment:

“A surgeon in Maryland, conducted his first spinal neuro-navigation process guided by an AR headset termed xvision in last June.”

This shows the power of technology in the healthcare surgical process. The medical world has been experiencing the power of various technologies for every tiny medical care procedure, and now the technologies like AR, VR, and Metaverse have opened the door of new experiences for the healthcare industry.

The surgical sector in healthcare has been a top one in embracing cutting-edge technologies like surgical robots, AR and others. Now, the metaverse is the new launch where it has been expected that it’ll open the broader door for the surgical industry.

Virtual Fitness & Wellness Training:

It has been observed that more people are changing how they interact with real-life routines like healthcare checkups and fitness services accessibilities. People supplement their fitness routine like workout sessions, gym, etc., with VR-based exercise. People are finding it more interactive while performing their workout sessions.

As written by New York Times, VR could be the new fitness therapist for the people, and now metaverse is arriving where people could use the mesmerizing ways for fitness activities. As VR exercises have far more potential than traditional fitness training, the fitness industry will leverage the vast potential from the Metaverse universe.

Enhancement to Telehealth Communities:

The past two years have been a disaster as the pandemic has changed the normal routine and forced everybody to stay disconnected physically. Healthcare app development has accelerated the pace and streamlined treating a patient with the help of the mobile application. People have started using the telemedicine process and shifted towards digital medium to stay connected with their medical care system.

Now, the metaverse is a new buzz, and it may enhance telehealth solutions by providing better doctor-patient interaction. It may shift the 2D healthcare system to 3D and change the healthcare industry’s landscape with the goodness of new technologies like AR, VR, AI, and others.

Virtualization in the Fitness World:

The fitness industry is experiencing a traditional way of availing fitness training, learnings, and other fitness tricks. People were heading towards gyms, yoga centers, fitness coaching institutions, and various places to get their daily exercise routines & training. But after the pandemic attack, people were forced to stay at their homes, which affected the daily exercises routine that they were taking in gyms, yoga centers, and other places. Healthcare & fitness apps have helped people furnishing the maximum way to get their necessities. There are applications for yoga, exercises & other healthcare tips which people were using during the pandemic via their homes.

There were videos, tutorials, live yoga classes and other fitness training that people could access from their smartphones.

Now, technology has stepped an advanced ladder where people can virtual meet their trainers access the ambiance where they likely want to perform their exercise routine. Technology is Metaverse.

“Meta has acquired Within, the creators of VR-based workout application Supernatural.”

Metaverse helps you personalize your fitness world. The user would make it simple, medium, or hard experiences they want to work upon. If the user wants only Yoga, he’ll get an environment where he/she can create a virtual trainer and learn faster than ever. If the user wants to learn abs exercises, he can create an experience that teaches about the abs exercises.

Metaverse will open vast doors for the fitness world. It’ll help users personalize their fitness with groups, creatively organize their exercises with the venue, open unlimited gym resources, etc.

What will be the challenge in using Metaverse healthcare?

Metaverse opens the doors of opportunities for the healthcare segment. It will improvise the whole structure of the healthcare system with the power of advanced technologies like VR, AR, 3D, and more. But, as it is true that opportunities always arrive with challenges, hence with metaverse healthcare, there might be some challenges in the future. The Healthcare industry has always been slow to adopt, implement & advance emerging technologies & advancements.

The challenges might be falls into fewer domains such as customization, interoperability, mistrust, cyberattacks, skills, etc.

These challenges will arrive while metaverse will come into the picture.

Summary

The interactive & interesting technological advancement that falls under the roof of the healthcare metaverse is still a few years away. But, we can see the magic of AR VR nowadays that is setting a different level in the healthcare segment. The upcoming years are arriving with the treatment of various mind-blowing tweaks which could improve patient access and care. To get a complete technological understanding, consultation from the top healthcare app development agencies is necessary.

Author Bio:

Radhika finds covering the tech world to be an exciting and engaging experience as each day brings new and groundbreaking technologies to explore and write about. A believe that words are our most inexhaustible source of magic, makes her fortify to writing pieces that enhance the visibility of any brand and helps them position themselves in the best possible way.