Stationary walking performance of post-stroke patients and healthy individuals in real and virtual non-immersive environments

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Several therapies are being used for the rehabilitation of stroke patients, such as Virtual Reality (VR) which has emerged as an interactive intervention to motivate and rehabilitate post-stroke patients. However, data comparison between the virtual and real environments is inconclusive. Thus, this study aimed to compare the kinematics and performance of the affected lower limb of post-stroke patients and healthy individuals during stationary walking activity between the real and virtual non-immersive environments. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted with 10 stroke patients and 10 healthy individuals, matched for gender and age. The participants performed stationary walking in a real and non-immersive virtual environment (Wii Fit Plus® –Running mode) for 3 minutes in random order. The performance was measured in both environments using the number of steps, while the kinematics was assessed by calculating the mean maximum flexion and extension of each joint (hip, knee, and ankle) of the affected lower limb. RESULTS: Post-stroke patients performed a higher total number of steps (p = 0.042), mainly in the third minute (p = 0.011), less knee flexion (p = 0.001) and total knee range of motion (p = 0.001) in the virtual compared with the real environment. CONCLUSIONS: Post-stroke patients performed more steps, with a faster cadence and smaller knee range of motion on the affected side in non-immersive virtual environment compared with the real environment.