Gait patterns during overground and virtual omnidirectional treadmill walking.
Morgan McGrath Lewis, Colin Waltz, Logan Scelina and 7 others
PMID 38388883WHAT IT FOUND
In healthy young adults, walking on the omnidirectional treadmill in VR was slower than overground walking, at 0.43 m/s versus 1.3 m/s.
Step length remained shorter after speed was accounted for, and turns took longer and needed more steps.
Key findings
01Average forward walking speed was 1.3 ± 0.18 m/s overground, 0.43 ± 0.07 m/s on the ODT in VR, and 0.50 ± 0.04 m/s on the ODT in VR with the handrail (p < 0.001 for both ODT comparisons).
02After controlling for gait speed, the only significant difference between overground and ODT forward walking was shorter step length on the ODT. At 0.45 m/s, predicted step length was 0.25 m on the ODT, 0.28 m with the handrail, and 0.43 m overground.
03Turning on the ODT was slower and took more steps than overground turning. For 180° turns, duration was 2.2 s overground and 6.3 s on the ODT, and step count was 4.9 overground and 10.6 on the ODT.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTs
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What it does not show
Only 15 healthy adults aged 25.1 ± 4.0 years were studied, so it does not show how people with neurological disease or older adults walk. The study used the Infinadeck ODT, a belt-based platform, so results may not apply to other ODT designs. Gait speed was not fixed before the trials, and the relationship between speed and gait metrics may differ between overground and ODT walking. Three participants did not complete all treadmill plus handrail trials because of motion sickness. Forty trials were excluded due to missteps or loss of balance, and 24 trials were excluded due to software malfunctions. The single-session design does not show whether gait changes after repeated use. The Simulator Sickness Questionnaire is only one possible way to measure VR sickness, and its direct use for VR systems has been questioned.
Declared interests
The supplied text does not include a funding or conflicts-of-interest declaration. The publication metadata lists research support from a non-U.S. government source.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that omnidirectional treadmill walking is equivalent to overground walking or that it can be used as a clinical gait test. In this study, treadmill walking was slower than overground walking, step length was shorter after speed was controlled, and turning took longer and required more steps. The treadmill, VR headset, harness, and handrail were used together, so the study cannot separate the contribution of any single component. The participants were healthy young adults, the system was one belt-based ODT, and some participants could not finish the handrail trials because of motion sickness.