How to Challenge Patients During Gait Training: The Effect of Immersive Virtual Reality on the Gait Pattern in People Post-stroke

Virtual reality (VR) during gait training in people post-stroke can offer added value by providing a task-specific training in more interactive and motivating environments. Nevertheless, scarce research has been presented concerning more detailed information about the influence immersive VR has on the gait pattern of stroke survivors. This exploratory study was conducted to examine the effect of walking with immersive VR on the gait pattern while walking on a self-paced treadmill in people post-stroke. Spatiotemporal gait parameters (i.e. walking speed, stride time, step width, step length) and gait variability measures of stride time, ankle, knee and hip range of motion were analyzed. Our preliminary results suggest that walking with immersive VR can positively influence spatiotemporal gait parameters. The addition of VR introduced less step-by-step variability in joint kinematics in both patients. More research with a larger sample size is necessary.