Bath team explores virtual reality for improving balance

Humans are able to keep balance using vision, feedback from muscles and joints (procioceptive) and from semi-circular canals in the ear (vestibular).

Traditionally, physical tests, such as on treadmills, are used to assess balance, but these can be inaccurate and unsafe, researchers said.

The team at Bath’s CAMERA motion capture research centre wanted to investigate how VR technology could provide a solution. Bath University’s Dr Pooya Soltani worked alongside Renato Andrade, from Clínica do Dragão, Espregueira-Mendes Sports Centre, FIFA Medical Centre of Excellence in Portugal. 

They reviewed data from 19 studies to investigate the validity, reliability, safety, feasibility and efficacy of using head-mounted display systems for assessing and training balance in older adults, with results published in the journal Frontiers in Sports and Active Living.

Virtual reality could hold key to preventing elderly falls

“Our pipeline included photogrammetry for realistic avatars, motion capture for driving the avatar and updating the visual scene inside the headset, and the game engine for adding extra elements to the VR scene,” said Dr Soltani.