Virtual reality could be of great help, not only in detecting balance deficiencies early on, but also in reversing these disorders and preventing falls, according to the results of a study. study published in the medical journal Nature Scientific Reports. Creating the visual illusion of a loss of balance could reduce the number of deaths of elderly people hospitalized after a fracture.
Detect balance disorders
Young, healthy adults depend primarily on mechanical “sensors” in their feet and legs to give them an accurate sense of body position. Thus, they usually have no problem walking in the dark or with their eyes closed. But this ability decreases in older people, as well as in people with neurodegenerative diseases, such as multiple sclerosis. Researchers from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC) and North Carolina State University (NC State) in the United States have implemented a new virtual reality system to create the visual illusion of a loss of equilibrium. Study participants walked on a treadmill. By disrupting their sense of balance in this way and recording their movements, the team was able to determine how the participants’ muscles responded.
The researchers used 14 cameras to record the positions of 30 reflective markers on each subject’s legs, back, and pelvis. This allowed them to see in detail how specific muscle groups that control the body’s oscillation and foot placement worked to correct a perceived loss of balance.
“We were able to identify the muscles that orchestrate balance corrections while walking,” said Jason Franz, assistant professor in the Vital Statistics department and author of the study. “We also learned how individual muscles are tightly coordinated in maintaining balance in walking. These elements provide an important roadmap for detecting balance deficiencies and the risk of future falls.”
The data also provides key baseline measurements that could be used in future clinical procedures to detect balance deficiencies before they cause people to fall.
Virtual reality as a therapeutic tool
The researchers also observed another potential of their device. It would be effective as a physical therapy tool to teach hearing impaired people how to improve their balance and avoid falls. “Early work in our lab suggests that it is possible to use these visual disturbances to train a person’s balance control system to better respond to imbalances that occur in everyday life,” concluded the searcher.
“As each person walked, we added sideways wobbles to the video imagery, so the visual environment made them feel as if they were swaying back and forth or falling,” Franz said. “Participants know they aren’t really moving, but their brains and muscles automatically try to correct their balance anyway.”
“As everyone walked, we added sideways wobbles to the video imagery so that the visual environment made them feel like they were swinging or falling,” said Jason R. Franz, co-author of this study. .
the Ministry of Social Affairs published a report in 2016 which indicated that “from all causes, 23.5% of patients aged 55 and over die within one year of a femoral neck fracture. This morality rate is higher among men (32.9%) than among women (20.6%) ”
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