Virtual Reality Gait Adaptation in Stroke Survivors

The major problem in stroke survivors that is being addressed in this research project is walking asymmetry, i.e., difference between the legs during walking (e.g. steps on the more affected side are longer than the other). A potential solution to this problem is using new technology like virtual reality during walking training to make stroke survivors have a better sense of their asymmetry. A second problem that we aim to address in this study is whether asymmetry is accurately felt by the stroke survivors and how we can address it. Our ongoing work on the effects of virtual reality on learning new walking tasks in stroke survivors indicates that virtual reality maybe particularly important for those with walking asymmetry. In this study, we plan to recruit stroke survivors who have such asymmetries during walking and have them learn a new walking task in virtual reality. We will also test the stroke survivors to determine if there is a relationship between how well they learn the new task with their ability to feel asymmetry accurately.