This is likely due to a combination of the low visual refresh rate, the reduced peripheral vision, and/or the delay between visual and vestibular feedback caused by the virtual reality headset. However, neither of the virtual reality groups improved as much as the group training without any virtual reality headset (44%). The group training with the visual rotations had an immediate reduction in step-offs of 42%, compared to the group without visual rotations’ reduction of 9%. Healthy, young participants were presented with brief reoccurring visual rotations in the roll axis, delivered through a virtual reality headset. A recent study from our lab showed that training individuals with brief, intermittent visual perturbations improved balance beam performance ( Peterson et al., 2018). It is also a suitable clinical test for assessing balance during gait and predicting falls in older individuals and individuals with neurological impairments, since it requires the center of mass to remain within the base of support similar to walking ( Hortobágyi et al., 2019). It is a skill requiring considerable dynamic balance control by integrating information of different sensory modalities. As the average population age continues to rise there is a need to develop appropriate training interventions to improve dynamic balance control and reduce the risk of falls.īeam walking proficiency can reflect walking balance ability across different populations ( Sawers and Ting, 2015). A survey on seniors’ falls in Canada reported that in 2001/02 “Fifty- nine percent ( N = 67,876) of the fall-related hospital admissions were for people age 65 years and over” ( Scott et al., 2005). Most falls occur during locomotion, especially when individuals fail to predict or react to changes in their environment ( Berg et al., 1997 Talbot et al., 2005). Intermittent visual occlusions are likely a simple method for enhancing balance training in dynamic motor tasks.įalls are a major public health concern with socioeconomic consequences including high medical bills and fatalities ( Masud and Morris, 2001). The difference between groups was also apparent 2 weeks later testing for retention (60% improvement for the visual occlusions group, 5% for the unperturbed vision group t(38) = –4.2, p < 0.001). Balance performance, in number of step-offs of the beam, improved by 78% for the visual occlusions group on the same day of the training, a near fourfold improvement compared to the 21% improvement for the unperturbed vision group ( t(38) = –5.2, p < 0.001). Forty healthy young individuals walked on a treadmill-mounted balance beam for 30 min (20 subjects with intermittent visual occlusions and 20 subjects with unperturbed vision). We theorized that intermittent visual occlusions with electrically controlled liquid crystal glasses would overcome the previous limitations of the immersive virtual reality headset and provide a means to enhance dynamic balance training efficacy. Prior research found that intermittent visual rotations improved balance training during walking on a narrow beam, but limitations from the immersive virtual reality headset hindered balance training effectiveness overall. Dynamic balance requires the neural integration of multisensory information to constantly assess the state of body mechanics. Improving dynamic balance can prevent falls in humans with neurological and mechanical deficits.
2International Max Planck Research School for Systems and Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany.Crayton Pruitt Family Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, United States Evangelia-Regkina Symeonidou 1,2* and Daniel P.
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