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How Does Postural Control in Patients with Functional Motor Disorders Adapt to Multitasking-Based Immersive Virtual
Marialuisa Gandolfi1,2,3, Angela Sandri1, Zoe Menaspà1
1Department of Neurosciences, Biomedicine and Movement Sciences, University of Verona, Verona, Italy.
Movement Disorders Clinical Practice
|January 5, 2024
Summary
Virtual reality (VR) helps adapt postural control in functional motor disorder (FMD) patients by manipulating attention. This study shows VR environments can improve balance in FMD patients, offering new insights into their condition.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Rehabilitation Medicine
- Human-Computer Interaction
Background:
- Functional motor disorders (FMDs) involve altered movement patterns and impaired posture control, increasing fall risk.
- Virtual reality (VR) offers a novel approach to study and potentially treat postural control deficits by manipulating attentional focus.
Purpose of the Study:
- To determine if postural control in FMD patients can be adapted using a 3D immersive VR environment with varying attentional demands.
- To investigate the dual-task effect (DTE) on postural parameters under different cognitive loads.
Main Methods:
- Compared postural parameters in 17 FMD patients and 19 healthy controls across four conditions in a VR environment, ranging from simple fixation to complex distraction tasks.
- Utilized posturography and dual-task effect (DTE) to quantify changes in postural control under increasing cognitive load.
Main Results:
- FMD patients showed reduced sway area and center of pressure velocity DTE compared to controls, specifically under the most demanding condition (condition 4).
- A significant reduction in sway area DTE was observed in FMD patients from condition 3 to condition 4, indicating adaptive postural control.
Conclusions:
- A 3D immersive VR environment with attention-manipulating tasks shows promise for adapting postural control in FMD patients.
- Quantitative posturographic measures support the potential of VR interventions for exploring FMD pathophysiology and informing treatment strategies.
