Development of Virtual Reality-based Gait Training System Simulating Personal Home Environment.

Area of Science:

• Rehabilitation Medicine
• Human-Computer Interaction
• Neuroscience

Background:

• Gait and balance impairments increase fall risk in inpatients, particularly after discharge.
• Traditional gait training may not fully prepare patients for real-world home environments.
• Virtual reality (VR) offers a promising tool for immersive and controlled rehabilitation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and evaluate a VR-based gait training system for inpatients.
• To assess the effectiveness of visual feedback in improving gait and reducing collisions within a simulated home environment.
• To investigate the system's utility for patients with stroke and lower limb paralysis.

Main Methods:

• Development of a VR system simulating a home environment with interactive objects.
• Implementation of visual feedback upon collision to prompt gait modification.
• Testing with healthy young adults to validate feedback effectiveness.
• Application of the system for gait training in an inpatient with stroke and lower limb paralysis.

Main Results:

• Healthy adults showed reduced walking time and fewer collisions with VR visual feedback.
• A stroke patient with lower limb paralysis demonstrated significant improvements in gait and balance after five days of VR training.
• The VR system effectively simulated a patient's home environment for tailored training.

Conclusions:

• VR-based gait training with visual feedback is effective for improving gait and balance.
• The system enhances attention to the surrounding environment during locomotion.
• This technology offers a novel approach for post-discharge fall risk reduction in clinical populations, especially stroke survivors.