Assessment of Gait Parameters in Virtual Environment

Human gait is the result of complex interplay of the nervous, musculoskeletal and cardiorespiratory systems. Unimpaired cognition and executive control are needed for safe walking. Balance and gait problems may be precursors of falls, which are the leading cause of elderly injuries. This article concerns using the Corridor application, run on the multi-sensory virtual reality system (CAREN, Computer Assisted Rehabilitation ENvironment) to evaluate chosen gait parameters of elderly participants. The presented application influences the conditions of postural stability by skewing the image of space in different directions, especially side to side. This provoking fall prevention strategy can be described by set of changed gait parameters. Differences are observed in the hip and ankle joints, spatio-temporal parameters and the results that differed during the gait with dual-task. To better evaluate the gait asymmetry the arm swing asymmetry and step length symmetry indices were used.

[1]  Andrzej Polanski,et al.  Algorithms for Computing Indexes of Neurological Gait Abnormalities in Patients after DBS Surgery for Parkinson Disease Based on Motion Capture Data , 2011 .

[2]  Magdalena Pawlyta,et al.  Virtual Reality Application to Study the Visual Influences on Human Balance , 2017, ICMMI.

[3]  Horng-Chaung Hsu,et al.  Strategies for obstacle crossing in older adults with high and low risk of falling , 2016, Journal of physical therapy science.

[4]  Stefano Gobbo,et al.  Effects of exercise on dual-task ability and balance in older adults: a systematic review. , 2014, Archives of gerontology and geriatrics.

[5]  Rosemarie Cooper,et al.  Rehabilitation of People with Lower-Limb Amputations , 2014, Current Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Reports.

[6]  Edward D. Lemaire,et al.  Temporal-spatial gait parameter models of very slow walking. , 2018, Gait & posture.

[7]  Adam Świtoński,et al.  Human identification based on a kinematical data of a gait , 2011 .

[8]  P. Baltes,et al.  Memorizing while walking: increase in dual-task costs from young adulthood to old age. , 2000, Psychology and aging.

[9]  I. Davis,et al.  The symmetry angle: a novel, robust method of quantifying asymmetry. , 2008, Gait & posture.

[10]  Rezaul Begg,et al.  Biomechanical balance response during induced falls under dual task conditions in people with knee osteoarthritis. , 2016, Gait & posture.

[11]  Navrag B. Singh,et al.  Kinematic measures for assessing gait stability in elderly individuals: a systematic review , 2011, Journal of The Royal Society Interface.

[12]  M. Woollacott,et al.  Attention and the control of posture and gait: a review of an emerging area of research. , 2002, Gait & posture.

[13]  J. Hollman,et al.  Age-related differences in spatiotemporal markers of gait stability during dual task walking , 2007 .

[14]  L. Rubenstein.  Falls in older people: epidemiology, risk factors and strategies for prevention. , 2006, Age and ageing.

[15]  Edward D Lemaire,et al.  Electromyographic and kinematic nondisabled gait differences at extremely slow overground and treadmill walking speeds. , 2005, Journal of rehabilitation research and development.