The acute effect of throwing training with virtual reality on boccia competitive performance in healthy adults.
Takumi Nagao, Noriaki Maeda, Makoto Komiya and 5 others
PMID 39354931WHAT IT FOUND
Virtual reality throwing training matched conventional ball-only training for accuracy and confidence in healthy adults.
Neither method beat the other, and immersion levels were not high enough to drive extra gains, suggesting standard practice remains effective.
Key findings
01There was no significant difference between VR and non-VR groups in throwing accuracy improvements at middle or long distances, with both groups showing similar gains.
02Confidence increased significantly after training in both groups, but there was no significant interaction between group and time, meaning VR did not boost confidence more than ball-only training.
03Immersion scores in the VR group were moderate (59.8 mm) and did not correlate with improvements in throwing accuracy, suggesting the VR setup failed to enhance the training effect through presence.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTs
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What it does not show
The study used healthy adults with no boccia experience, so results may not apply to patients with severe disabilities who are the primary boccia population. Only acute effects were measured; long-term training benefits were not assessed. The sample size was small (13 per group). VR immersion was low, which may have limited the potential benefits of the technology.
Declared interests
The authors declared no conflicts of interest. The research received no specific grant from any funding agency.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume VR is unnecessary for all motor learning tasks. This study tested a specific passive video setup with low immersion in healthy novices; it does not rule out benefits from interactive or high-immersion VR systems, nor does it generalize to populations with mobility impairments.