Ma Lei, Yosef Bar, Talu Ipek, Batista Daniel, Jenkens-Drake Emi, Suthana Nanthia, Cross Katy A
Department of Neurology, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
Department of Psychiatry & Biobehavioral Sciences, Jane and Terry Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
NPJ Parkinsons Dis. 2025 Jun 4;11(1):148. doi: 10.1038/s41531-025-01017-9.
Virtual reality (VR) is increasingly used to study freezing of gait (FOG) in Parkinson's disease (PD). However, overground gait in VR typically exhibits shorter, wider, and slower steps than real-world gait in both healthy and PD populations. This altered gait behavior raises the question of whether VR also alters the FOG phenomenon. We investigate the effects of naturalistic VR on gait and FOG characteristics in PD patients. Patients walked in a real-world environment and its VR replica under conditions that provoke FOG. Spatiotemporal gait parameters and FOG episodes were compared between environments. Results revealed that a detailed VR replica and large walking area reduced the effect of VR on gait parameters compared to previous reports. Additionally, FOG was provoked by similar triggers with comparable frequency, suggesting VR effectively replicates FOG heterogeneity. This work demonstrates the feasibility of VR to study gait and FOG in PD and informs future VR applications.
虚拟现实（VR）越来越多地用于研究帕金森病（PD）中的冻结步态（FOG）。然而，在健康人群和PD患者中，与现实世界中的步态相比，VR中的地面行走步态通常表现出步幅更短、步宽更宽且步速更慢。这种改变的步态行为引发了一个问题，即VR是否也会改变FOG现象。我们研究了自然主义VR对PD患者步态和FOG特征的影响。患者在引发FOG的条件下，在现实世界环境及其VR复制品中行走。比较了不同环境下的时空步态参数和FOG发作情况。结果显示，与之前的报告相比，详细的VR复制品和较大的行走区域减少了VR对步态参数的影响。此外，相似的触发因素以相当的频率引发了FOG，这表明VR有效地复制了FOG的异质性。这项工作证明了VR用于研究PD患者步态和FOG的可行性，并为未来的VR应用提供了参考。
