Development of a virtual reality toolkit to enhance community walking after stroke

Community walking remains compromised in the majority of stroke survivors even after rehabilitation. We developed a virtual reality (VR) toolkit prototype to provide intensive, task-specific training of complex locomotor tasks as required for community walking in safe yet ecological virtual environments. The toolkit, supported by best evidence and developed using low-cost VR tools, comprises of 6 dimensions that include endurance, walking speed, postural transitioning environmental encumbrance, cognitive load and a more complex dimension combining encumbrance and cognitive load. Feedback collected through hands-on interaction and focus groups with stroke participants and clinicians will be used to refine the prototype. The resulting VR toolkit will be combined to field training practice as part of a multi-centered intervention study to enhance community walking in stroke survivors.