Virtual reality device aids people with MS

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

Gait problems occur in roughly 85 percent of MS patients, Drs. Yoram Baram and Ariel Miller of Technion-Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa explain in the medical journal Neurology.

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 with 16 MS patients.

The team found that patients whose walking speed was below the average for the group had a 13.5 percent improvement while using the device; those whose speed was already above average weren’t helped much, seeing an improvement of just 1.5 percent.

Patients then took a ten-minute break, and were tested without using the virtual reality system. The below-average patients showed a 24.5 percent residual improvement in speed, while those with above-average speed showed a 9.1 percent improvement.

Tests of the device in healthy people did not show any improvement, and in fact it 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.

SOURCE: Neurology, January 24, 2006.

RELATED STORIES:
Young Smokers Increase Risk for Multiple Sclerosis   Evidence of a genetic risk factor for Parkinson’s disease   Neurotherapeutics presents special issue on new treatments for Alzheimer’s disease   Cool head may mean calm heart   Surgery, exercise may offer Parkinson’s hope   B-Vitamin Deficiency May Cause Vascular Cognitive Impairment   Patients who stop using statins after stroke increase risk of death   Study takes step toward erasing bad memories   Amphetamines may slow Parkinson’s disease   Hair follicles provide source of nerve stem cells   Surgery found to halve stroke risk in some patients   Vaccine for Stomach Flu May be Possible

Comments

[ + Post Your Own ]

Now you're in the public comment zone. What follows is not Armenian Medical Network's stuff; it comes from other people and we don't vouch for it. A reminder: By using this Web site you agree to accept our Terms of Service. Click here to read the Rules of Engagement.

There are no comments for this entry yet. [ + Comment here + ]