Virtual Reality Device Improves Gait in Multiple Sclerosis Patients
From: Reuters Health - 02/09/2006

Virtual reality visual feedback cues can help multiple sclerosis (MS)
patients to walk more quickly and lengthen their stride, Israeli researchers
report. 

Gait problems occur in roughly 85% of MS patients, Drs. Yoram Baram and Ariel
Miller of Technion-Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa write in the
January 24th issue of Neurology. Efforts to improve gait in MS patients have
been directed toward improved muscle strength and reduced spasticity, they
add, while there has been little research on gait rehabilitation in patients
with cerebellar ataxia. 

A virtual reality system that incorporates the user's movements into a visual
display that provides feedback has been shown to improve gait in patients
with Parkinson's. The researchers tested a more advanced version of the
device in 16 MS patients. All had gait disturbances, most due to cerebellar
ataxia. 

While using the device, the researchers found, patients whose baseline
walking speed was below the median for the group showed a 13.46% improvement,
while those whose speed was above the median improved 1.47%. 

Patients then took a ten-minute break, and were tested without using the
device. The patients with below-median baseline speed showed a 24.49%
residual improvement, while those with above average speed showed a 9.09%
improvement. A similar degree of improvement was seen in stride length in
both on-line and off-line tests. 

Tests of the device in healthy controls did not show any improvement in
walking speed or stride length, and in fact the device reduced speed and
stride length. "This makes the results for the patients even more noteworthy,
since improved apparatus and prolonged training are expected to reduce the
burdening effect, hence, further improve performance," the researchers write. 

The findings support the use of virtual reality-based approaches to
rehabilitation in patients with MS, as well as other types of neurological
disorders, they conclude. 

Citation:
Baram Y & Miller A, Virtual reality cues for improvement of gait in patients
with multiple sclerosis, Neurology 2006;66:178-181. 

Read the full article at:
http://www.neurology.org/cgi/content/full/66/2/178?cookietest=yes

Links:

Yoram Baram - baram@cs.technion.ac.il
http://www.cs.technion.ac.il/~baram/

Visual Feedback Walker for Movement Disorders
http://www.cs.technion.ac.il/~baram/tiles.html

Acceleration-to-Sound Converter
http://www.cs.technion.ac.il/~baram/ats.html

Walking on Tiles Virtual Reality Device Helps Parkinson's Patients Walk Better
http://www.ats.org/news.php?id=43

Virtual reality device aids people with MS
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060209/hl_nm/virtual_ms_dc
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/news/fullstory_29693.html
http://www.integrarx.com/news/article-Virtual-reality-device-people-11712.html