Abstract
Motor performance of stroke patients and healthy individuals was compared in terms of selected kinematic features of arm and trunk movements while subjects reached for visual targets in virtual (VR) and physical (PH) environments. In PH, the targets were placed at an extended arm distance, while in VR comparably placed virtual targets were presented via GestureTek's IREX system. Our goal was to obtain further insights into research methods related to VR-based rehabilitation. Eight right-hemiparetic stroke patients (age =46-87 years) and 8 healthy adults (age =51-73 years) completed 84 reaching movements in VR and PH environments while seated. The results showed that arm and trunk movements differed in the two environments in patients and to a lesser extent in healthy individuals. Arm motion of patients became jerkier in VR, with larger paths and longer movement durations, and presented greater arm torsion (i.e., larger elbow rotations around the hand-shoulder axis). Interestingly, patients also showed a significant reduction of compensatory trunk movements during VR reaching. The findings indicate that when targets were perceived to be beyond hand reach, stroke patients may be less able to estimate 3D virtual target locations obtained from the 2D TV planar displays. This was not the case for healthy participants.
Original language | English |
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Title of host publication | 2009 Virtual Rehabilitation International Conference, VR 2009 |
Pages | 179-184 |
Number of pages | 6 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - 12 Nov 2009 |
Event | 2009 Virtual Rehabilitation International Conference, VR 2009 - Haifa, Israel Duration: 29 Jun 2009 → 2 Jul 2009 |
Conference
Conference | 2009 Virtual Rehabilitation International Conference, VR 2009 |
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Country/Territory | Israel |
City | Haifa |
Period | 29/06/09 → 2/07/09 |
Keywords
- Arm and trunk kinematics
- Physical environment
- Reaching
- Stroke rehabilitation
- Virtual enviroment
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Artificial Intelligence
- Software
- Biomedical Engineering