Varas-Diaz Gonzalo, Paralkar Shivani, Wang Shuaijie, Bhatt Tanvi
Department of Physical Therapy, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago IL, USA.
PhD Program in Rehabilitation Sciences, College of Applied Health Sciences, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago IL, USA.
Rehabil Res Pract. 2020 Dec 19;2020:8901973. doi: 10.1155/2020/8901973. eCollection 2020.
The aim of this study was to examine the kinematic gait adjustments performed in response to passive and photorealistic virtual reality environment (VRE) demands during over-ground and treadmill walking conditions and determine whether the surface presentation order affects the gait adjustments in response to different VREs.
Twenty young participants divided into two groups performed two virtual reality (VR) walking protocols which included two different VREs (snowy and crowded conditions). Group A performed the VR over-ground protocol (four natural walking (NW), seven VR snowy, and seven VR crowded trials) followed by the VR treadmill protocol (four NW, one VR snowy, and one VR crowded trials); Group B performed the VR treadmill protocol (four NW, seven VR snowy, and seven VR crowded trials) followed by the VR over-ground protocol (four NW, one VR snowy, and one VR crowded trials). Center of mass (COM) excursion angles and mediolateral (ML) COM excursions were analyzed and used as outcome measures.
Group A showed higher COM excursion angles and ML-COM excursion on over-ground VR trials compared to NW trials ( < 0.05), while Group B only showed kinematic changes for the crowded VRE compared to NW trials during the treadmill walking protocol ( < 0.05). Post over-ground exposure, Group A showed greater COM excursion angle and ML-COM excursions on VR trials compared to NW trials during the treadmill walking protocol ( < 0.05). Post treadmill exposure, Group B only showed higher COM excursion angles for the snowy VRE compared to NW trials during the over-ground walking protocol ( < 0.01).
Results showed that higher kinematic gait adjustments in response to VRE demands were observed during over-ground walking. Additionally, higher sensorimotor responses to VRE demands were observed when the VR protocol was first performed on the over-ground surface and followed by the treadmill walking condition (Group A) compared to the opposite (Group B).
本研究的目的是检查在地面行走和跑步机行走条件下，针对被动和逼真的虚拟现实环境（VRE）需求所进行的运动步态调整，并确定表面呈现顺序是否会影响对不同VRE的步态调整。
20名年轻参与者被分为两组，执行两个虚拟现实（VR）行走方案，其中包括两种不同的VRE（雪地和拥挤场景）。A组先执行VR地面行走方案（四次自然行走（NW）、七次VR雪地行走和七次VR拥挤场景行走试验），然后执行VR跑步机行走方案（四次NW、一次VR雪地行走和一次VR拥挤场景行走试验）；B组先执行VR跑步机行走方案（四次NW、七次VR雪地行走和七次VR拥挤场景行走试验），然后执行VR地面行走方案（四次NW、一次VR雪地行走和一次VR拥挤场景行走试验）。分析质心（COM）偏移角度和内侧-外侧（ML）COM偏移，并将其用作结果指标。
与NW试验相比，A组在地面VR试验中显示出更高的COM偏移角度和ML-COM偏移（<0.05），而B组在跑步机行走方案期间，与NW试验相比，仅在拥挤VRE中显示出运动学变化（<0.05）。在地面行走暴露后，与跑步机行走方案期间的NW试验相比，A组在VR试验中显示出更大的COM偏移角度和ML-COM偏移（<0.05）。在跑步机行走暴露后，与地面行走方案期间的NW试验相比，B组仅在雪地VRE中显示出更高的COM偏移角度（<0.01）。
结果表明，在地面行走期间观察到对VRE需求有更高的运动步态调整。此外，与相反顺序（B组）相比，当VR方案首先在地面表面执行，然后是跑步机行走条件（A组）时，观察到对VRE需求有更高的感觉运动反应。
