Analyzing muscle thickness changes in lateral abdominal muscles while exercising using virtual reality.
Masashi Kitano, Masami Nakamoto, Kengo Kawanishi and 2 others
PMID 38952461WHAT IT FOUND
In 22 healthy men, seated virtual-reality reaching produced greater transverse abdominis thickness changes during same-side reaches than real-space reaching.
Other abdominal muscles and opposite-side reaches did not differ. This is a muscle-thickness signal, not a proven clinical effect.
Key findings
01After intervention, the VR group had significant ipsilateral transverse abdominis thickness changes of 1.6 ± 2.0 mm forward, 1.9 ± 1.6 mm diagonally forward, and 1.6 ± 1.5 mm lateral, versus 0.0 ± 0.7 mm, 0.2 ± 0.6 mm, and 0.2 ± 0.7 mm in the control group.
02No significant differences were found in internal oblique or external oblique thickness changes before or after intervention.
03The change from before to after differed by group only for transverse abdominis thickness during ipsilateral reach.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTs
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What it does not show
All participants were healthy male volunteers, so the findings may not apply to older adults or people with neurological, orthopedic, or pain conditions. The study measured ultrasound thickness changes as a proxy for muscle activity and did not test actual postural control tasks, walking, balance, or clinical outcomes. Blinding was not possible because the person delivering the exercise also assessed outcomes, which could introduce bias. The study did not measure movement changes during the exercise, including pelvic tilt, so differences in movement strategy may explain the thickness change. The study used a small sample, with 11 participants in each group.
Declared interests
This work was funded by JSPS KAKENHI Grant Number JP21K17503. Masahiko Hara is a director of mediVR Inc., in which he holds private equity, and Masashi Kitano is a full-time employee of mediVR Inc. mediVR Inc. makes the mediVR KAGURA system used in the study.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that virtual-reality reaching improves walking, balance, or patient outcomes. The study measured transverse abdominis thickness changes in 22 healthy male volunteers and did not test postural control tasks or clinical function.