Assessing the Effectiveness of New Virtual Reality Technology for Inducing Instability during Stance

poster abstractThe Oculus Rift is new VR technology that is portable and inexpensive, but its usefulness for the study of balance has yet to be tested. The purpose of this research is to establish an affordable and portable Riftbased balance measuring “kit” that can be used in the field or clinic. The kinesiology students developed an algorithm to test the consistency and accuracy between force plates that will be included in the ‘kit.’ The results showed very little deviation between force plates when measuring the force of a 4.5 N object and that the force plate could reliably capture body sway. Simultaneously, 4 students developed the software for the Rift. To do so they connected the Rift with Unity, a gaming engine used to create the VR scene consisting of a city street with sidewalks and buildings that the subjects will enter. They further programmed the VR scene so that it will appear to the subject to translate back and forth in the fore-aft to disrupt balance. With hardware and software for the “kits” having been developed, pilot testing can begin to examine impact of visual movement produced through translation of the Rift VR scene on balance

Using Virtual Reality to Test Balance in Athletes Following Concussion

poster abstractCurrent testing for return to athletic activity following a concussion is controversial and is generally based on a series of cognitive tests and assessments of gross balance activity (such as timed standing with the eyes opened and closed with the feet in different positions). The use of inexpensive and commercially available virtual reality (VR) to manipulate the visual surrounding to promote body sway, but not the loss of balance, could provide clinicians and trainers with another tool to use for establishing readiness to return. The purpose of this study is to examine balance in athletes who are at least 2-weeks postconcussion and have received medical clearance to return to practice/play and age, gender, and sport matched athletes who have no history of concussion. Body sway while standing still with the eyes opened, eyes closed, and with a VR scene translating forward and backward at 0.1 Hz is assessed through analysis of center of pressure movement (COP) recorded with a force plate, a commonly used device for assessing balance. We have examined center of pressure movement in 3 recently concussed female athletes and 2 controls. Though we hypothesized that both groups would have similar levels of body sway on the standard balance tests (eyes open and eyes closed conditions), and body sway would be different in the concussion group compared to the control when viewing the translating scene, our preliminary analysis shows little difference between the two groups. This preliminary finding could be due to our small sample of analyzed data, but it could also be attributed to the length of time from clearance to resume activity to our test of body sway (over 2 months)