Visual Feedback and Guided Balance Training in an Immersive Virtual Reality Environment for Lower Extremity...

Area of Science:

• Rehabilitation Medicine
• Human-Computer Interaction
• Virtual Reality

Background:

• Balance training is crucial for physical rehabilitation, improving mobility and cognitive function.
• Conventional methods lack motivation, real-time feedback, and personalization.
• Virtual reality (VR) offers potential solutions to these limitations.

Purpose of the Study:

• To present an immersive VR environment for lower extremity balance rehabilitation.
• To evaluate the impact of different coaching styles (positive-reinforcement vs. autonomous-supportive) and avatar viewpoints (first-person vs. third-person) on user performance and experience.

Main Methods:

• Development of an immersive VR balance training environment with a virtual coach and trainee avatar.
• Implementation of two coaching styles and two avatar viewpoints.
• User study with 16 healthy participants to assess performance and subjective experience.

Main Results:

• Participants performed better with the positive-reinforcement coaching style.
• Third-person viewpoint showed more stability with positive-reinforcement.
• First-person viewpoint yielded stronger performance in the autonomous-supportive style.

Conclusions:

• The proposed VR balance training provides an interactive and engaging rehabilitation tool.
• Positive-reinforcement coaching and specific viewpoints can enhance balance training outcomes.
• VR offers promising avenues for future lower extremity rehabilitation research.