Reducing Visual Dependence of Postural Control in Older Adults with a Vibration Belt Indicating Shifts in Center of...

Balance declines with age, and improving balance requires improving postural control. A major reason postural control becomes more difficult with age is that older adults often experience decreases in visual information due to vision loss. We developed a training system to improve postural control in older adults. The training system uses a virtual reality (VR) space in which the tilt angle of the image showing the user's surroundings can be freely changed and a vibration belt transmits shifts in the user's center of gravity through vibrations. We conducted experiments to determine whether our training system improves postural control in older adults. The results showed that, when the VR space was tilted, the sum of the area of center of gravity sway and the distance of center of gravity shift were significantly reduced after training compared to before training. This suggested a decrease in the dependence of balance on visual information. In addition, the area of center of gravity sway during static standing was significantly reduced, suggesting an improvement in postural control. Thus, our training system was observed to improve static balance in older adults.