仮想坂道の歩行時における制動力および駆動力の計測

抄録

At nursing care sites, patients undergo an exercise regimen as rehabilitation and training for walking disorders. However, it is presumed that their motivation decreases over time because in a nursing home, walking exercises are performed in a closed space and are repetitions of monotonous movements. Therefore, it is necessary to develop a more varied and effective rehabilitation or training method. The purpose of this study is to develop a varied and effective training method wherein the trainee walks while viewing virtual reality (VR) images. Specifically, in the proposed method, the trainee views VR images of walking on a slope, while actually walking on a treadmill, and he/she controls the physical load. In this study, we conducted an experiment using a composed training system with the aim of analyzing the influence of watching VR imagery of walking on a slope on the braking and driving forces while walking on a horizontal treadmill. We improved the VR system to automatically adjust the treadmill speed from the position information of the trainee. Then, comparative experiments of the braking and driving forces were performed for cases of walking while watching images of level and slope grounds. As a result, the walking speed, braking force, and driving force tended to decrease when watching downward slope images compared to watching level ground images. Additionally, the walking speed, braking force, and driving force tended to increase when viewing upward slope images.