philip lelyveld The world of entertainment technology

Virtual reality plus treadmill training may help reduce falls linked to aging, Parkinson’s disease

"Falls often start a vicious cycle with many negative health consequences," said Dr. Mirelman. "The ability of older people to negotiate obstacles can be impaired because of age-related decline in cognitive abilities like motor planning, divided attention, executive control and judgement. But current interventions typically focus almost exclusively on improving muscle strength, balance and gait.

"Our approach helps improve both physical mobility and cognitive aspects that are important for safe walking," Dr. Mirelman continued. "We found that virtual reality plus treadmill training helped to reduce fall frequency and fall risk for at least six months after training -- significantly more than treadmill training alone. This suggests that our use of virtual reality successfully targeted the cognitive aspects of safe ambulation to reduce the risk of falls."

The TAU-TASMC team, in collaboration with partners across Europe, collected data from 282 participants at five clinical sites in Belgium, Israel, Italy, the Netherlands and the UK between 2013 and 2015. The participants, all aged 60-90, were able to walk at least five minutes unassisted, were on stable medications and, critically, had reported at least two falls in the six months prior to the start of the study. Nearly half of all participants (130) had Parkinson's disease, and some (43) had mild cognitive impairment.

Participants were assigned to treadmill training with virtual reality (146) or treadmill training alone (136). The virtual reality component consisted of a camera that captured the movement of participants' feet and projected it onto a screen in front of the treadmill, so that participants could "see" their feet walking on the screen in real time.

The game-like simulation was designed to reduce the risk of falls in older adults by including real life challenges such as avoiding and stepping over obstacles like puddles or hurdles, and navigating pathways. It also provided motivation to the participants, giving them feedback on their performance and scores on the game.

While the incident rate of falls was similar in the two groups prior to the intervention, six months after training the rate of falls among those who trained with VR dropped by almost 50%. In contrast, there was no significant reduction in the fall rates among subjects who did not train with the VR.

"Treadmills are widely available, and the additional cost of treadmill training plus virtual reality is only about $4,500.

See the full story here: http://www.news-medical.net/news/20161101/Virtual-reality-plus-treadmill-training-may-help-reduce-falls-linked-to-aging-Parkinsons-disease.aspx