The Science Behind UprightVR
Our Science Explained
By Geoff Wright
Why do people fall?
Standing on 2 feet is a surprisingly complex task that we take for granted.
Upright bipedal stance is an incredibly complex behavior, but humans have evolved to perform this task with relatively little effort. However, due to the numerous brain regions that are involved in the integration of sensory and motor information needed for upright stance, it’s possible for even a relatively subtle change in the brain’s processing ability to cause balance difficulties.
Whether it’s injury to the central nervous, peripheral nervous, or musculo skeletal system, all of these can cause postural imbalance.
The three primary sensory systems involved in postural control come from the visual, vestibular, and somatosensory input.The visual system is sensitive to cues about the orientation of the head and body relative to earth as well as motion cues, which tells us if we are moving and how fast.
The vestibular system is housed in the inner ear and has two types of sensors: the semicircular canals and the otoliths. Together they provide information about whether we are accelerating, rotating, or tilting relative to gravity.
The somatosensory system is found throughout the body and tells us where the parts of our body are relative to each other and relative to the earth. When standing, this system tells us where the ground is through sensors in the soles of our feet, while sensors in all of our muscles, tendons, and joints tell us the position and orientation of our many body parts (e.g. kinestheticsense).
All of this sensory information travels to the spinal cord where it either automatically gets sent back to the muscles to help keep the body upright, or it’s sent to the brain where it’s processed and relayed back to the muscles for balancing, walking, or making voluntary movements.
Much of the sensory input is processed without conscious awareness, which is why standing is often performed so effortlessly.
Despite the relative ease that most humans stand on their feet, it is possible to measure small differences in postural stability. A clinician can be trained to visually detect deficits in balance, but even a proud parent is
able to detect the obvious progression in balancing skills as their child learns to walk.
However, to objectively measure small changes in balance, sensitive posturography equipment is required. The virtual reality-based solution we have devised is designed to allow for objective quantification of balance after injury, disease, or even across healthy aging.
This unique approach tests and challenges the postural control system and allows for sensitive and specific identification of the causes of balance deficits, can be used to track recovery, and can then be used to help prescribe treatment or guide preventative training regimens.
~ Dr. Geoffrey Wright
~ DR. Geoffrey Wright
The Validity of an Oculus Rift to Assess Postural Changes During Balance Tasks
Objective: To investigate whether shifts in head position, measured via an Oculus Rift head-mounted display (HMD), is a valid measure of whole-body postural stability.
Visual-vestibular processing deficits in mild traumatic brain injury
Objective: To investigate the role of visual-vestibular processing deficits following concussion.
Assessing subacute mild traumatic brain injury with a portable virtual...
Purpose: We designed an affordable, portable virtual reality (VR)-based balance screening device (Virtual Environment TBI Screen [VETS]) to determine if it can replace commonly used postural assessments.
Public Presentations
Detecting Risk of Falls in Healthy Older Adults Using a Virtual Reality Balance Assessment
Quinn SE, Ellis M, Reter M, Wright WG.
Podium presentation at: American Physical Therapy Association Combined Sections Meeting; February 2-5, 2022; San Antonio, TX.
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