Treadmill Locomotion in a Virtual Reality Environment

Principal Investigator: Robert H. Brey, Ph.D.
Project Coordinator: John Hollman, Ph.D. — hollman.john@mayo.edu

Postural stability and gait stability are typically impaired in patients with vestibular system pathology. Often, instability in these patients is aggravated in visually stimulating environments or when people are required to move their heads back and forth while walking. One method used to treat patients with vestibular system pathology is to expose them gradually to the stimuli that cause their symptoms and to allow their nervous systems to adapt and compensate to the stimulus. Exposure to instabilityprovoking visual stimuli in the clinical setting can potentially be elicited with virtual reality (VR).

While previous research suggests that postural stability is reduced in people exposed to VR stimuli while standing, little research has been done to investigate effects of VR stimuli on gait stability when people are walking. The purpose of this study is to quantify, in healthy subjects and in subjects with vestibular system pathology, gait patterns that occur when people walk on treadmill in a VR environment that simulates walking through a corridor. Gait parameters reflective of gait instability (stride length, step width, variability in stride velocity and variability in step width) are compared between VR and non-VR conditions.

To date we have tested 10 healthy subjects and 7 subjects with vestibular system pathology. Subjects walk in the VR environment with reduced stride lengths, increased step widths, and with increased variability in stride velocity and step width. The gait deviations suggest that walking in a VR environment may induce gait instability.