earticle

영어

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of auditory feedback in virtual reality (VR) walking training on balance and gait functions in chronic stroke patients. Ten chronic stroke hemiplegic patients (age:625, height:167.5, weight:59.7). All subjects underwent three interventions in randomized order: (1) treadmill walking, (2) treadmill walking with virtual reality, (3) treadmill walking with virtual reality and auditory feedback. Outcome measures were he Berg balance scale (BBS), time up-and-go test (TUG), 10-m walk test (10MWT), gait velocity, and paretic side-to-nonparetic side ratio, and measurements were performed before and after the intervention. There was no significant difference in balance and gait (10MWT, TUG, BBS, walking speed, paretic/non-paretic symmetric walking ratio) among the interventions (p>.05). These findings suggest that virtual reality and auditory feedback may not be beneficial for balance and walking in clinical setting. It needs to perform further trials with more robust design.