Using Virtual Reality to Get Over Your Fear of Falling
For many people, virtual reality is a popular and fun form of entertainment that can transform the simple act of watching a movie or playing a video game from an ordinary experience into one where you feel that you are part of the on-screen action. But the potential of virtual reality goes well beyond its use in movies and video games. It has been proven to be a valuable tool in many other applications. One of these is in assessing changes in gait and balance in individuals who have mobility-related anxieties stemming from a fear of falling—a common concern among older adults and those who struggle with postural instability due to a physical illness, injury, or other debilitating condition that impairs mobility. Some researchers think that virtual reality can play a role in helping individuals overcome their mobility related anxieties which could reduce the incidence of falls.
Fear of falling can make individuals more prone to future falls.
Research shows that the fear of falling can increase the likelihood of a future fall—even in individuals who have never had a serious fall previously. This is because a person with a fear of falling allocates much of their cognitive attention to looking down at the ground and taking smaller, slower steps, a strategy that people sometimes use to compensate for a sense of poor balance. However, channeling more mental energy into consciously monitoring your steps means that you are paying less attention to your surroundings. You may be missing the visual clues of threats on the horizon such as uneven walkway surfaces, sidewalk curbs, objects blocking your path, oncoming car traffic at a crosswalk, and other dangers that could result in a serious fall. Once this happens, the fear of falling in older adults and individuals with compromised mobility may become worse, causing them to become more sedentary and more vulnerable to the related negative health consequences that come with being inactive. However, existing studies suggest that virtual reality has the potential to be used as a diagnostic tool in helping people manage their fear of falling and in reducing their mobility-induced anxieties.
One such study involved the measurement of changes in gait and balance in a group of adult volunteers who were asked to navigate a simulated walkway at different elevations. The higher elevation settings were intended to amplify the perceived risk of falling, Volunteers were fitted with head-mounted devices displaying a virtual path at ground level and then at a height of 15 meters. The volunteers wore motion trackers measuring their gait patterns and ability to turn while walking the path, as well as biosensors which collected data on their physiological responses at the two different elevation settings. The study results showed that at higher simulated elevations, participants walked slower, shortened their steps, and decreased their peak turning speed.
Virtual reality can induce changes in walking patterns by simulating threats.
An important implication of this is that virtual reality can cause people to exhibit different gait patterns and walking behaviors in response to simulated threats, such as the illusion of an elevated walkway as described here. However, researchers caution that the studies done thus far are performed in controlled laboratory environments. They urge that more research is needed to better understand how mobility impaired or older individuals might respond when encountering real-world threats to their locomotion in everyday situations. Advancements in virtual reality technology can help in this regard by replicating normal, common scenarios such as walking in a crowded mall, crossing a street at night, climbing a stairwell, or stepping on and off an escalator—all of which can exacerbate a fear of falling in certain individuals. Virtual reality of this type could be used by clinicians to better identify mobility deficits in vulnerable individuals which could lead to therapies and interventions aimed at reducing the risk of falls.
An individual’s sensory, motor, and cognitive “challenge points” could be ascertained using virtual reality as a way of preventing falls.
Researchers have discussed how a range of sensory, motor, and cognitive “challenge points” could be integrated into a virtual reality-based stress test that could help identify deficits in individuals making them more likely to fall. Corrective measures could then be used to address those deficits with the goal of preventing falls. Simulated challenge points might include:
- Changes in walking speed along a crosswalk to determine leg strength;
- Obstacles such as potholes or oncoming pedestrians on a pathway to measure maneuvering abilities;
- Walking in increasingly low light settings to detect visual problems; and,
- Focusing on a clock while walking to assess cognitive-motor skills.
Research emphasizes that virtual reality “allows scientists to measure performance across different challenge points, where participants are pushed to perform at, or near, the limits of their capability in everyday cognitive-motor performance, highlighting locomotor deficits before they lead to a fall in daily life.”
To read more about how virtual reality can lead to interventions that will reduce the risk of falling, read this article by Tiphanie Raffegeau, assistant professor in the Kinesiology program within George Mason University’s School of Kinesiology. For more information about degree offerings in Mason’s Kinesiology program, please visit the program website.