Sağlıklı Erişkinlerde Sanal Egzersiz ve Motor İmgelemin Denge ve Koordinatif Beceriler Üzerine Etkisi
Project no. 20828 · Status: Kapanmış · 2019
Summary
Purpose: Balance and coordination are physical attributes that can be improved with exercises, and mostly physical exercises. However, the term “exercise” does not only refer to physical exercise, it also includes mental exercise. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of training programs that only contain mental exercises on balance and coordination skills. Second purpose of this study is to investigate the possible effects of prefrontal cortex on balance via fNIRS (functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy) neuroimaging. Matherials and Methods: Fifty-seven healthy adults (28 females, 29 males), aged between 18-25 years, participated in this study. Participants were randomly assigned to three groups: virtual reality (VRG), monitor screen (MSG) and control (CG). VRG were trained with VR headset, for three 30-minute sessions over 4 weeks. Training program included action observation (AO) and motor imagery (MI) practices with balance exercise videos. MSG were trained with monitor screen and had the same training program and duration with VRG. CG did not receive any interventions. Before intervention, static and dynamic balance were assessed on Technobody Prokin – 252 stabilometry device and Center of Pressure (CoP) sway area (mm2), CoP sway perimeter (mm) and trunk deviation angle (o) were recorded. For another dynamic balance performance assessment, Y Balance Test (YBT) scores were evaluated. Both stabilometry and YBT were performed with simultaneous fNIRS imaging and prefrontal cortex oxygenization were measured with oxygenizated haemoglobin (oxy-Hb) levels. Coordinative skills were investigated with obstacle course test-1 (OCT-1) which is a custom-built test for this study. OCT-1 test time, total number of errors and error types were recorded. After intervention, participants completed stabilometric balance tests, YBT, fNIRS imaging and OCT-1. For investigating transfer effects, another custom-built obstacle course (OCT-2) was tested. Results: VRG significantly improved all visual (eyes-open/closed) and surface (static/dynamic) conditions on double-leg stance (p<0.05). MSG significantly improved in single-leg stance conditions (p<0.05). CG did not improve any stabilometric parameters and any conditions (p>0.05). In YBT, dominant leg composite scores significantly improved in VRG and MSG (p<0.001 and p=0.015, respectively) and significantly reduced in CG (p=0.001). Non-dominant leg composite scores significantly improved in VRG and MSG (p=0.001 and p=0.002, respectively) and significantly reduced in CG (p=0.022). In fNIRS imaging, OxyHb levels during YBT did not significantly change on both dominant and non-dominant leg in VRG and MSG (dominant p=0.631; p=0.595 and non-dominant p=0.495; VII p=0.379, respectively), but significantly reduced in CG (dominant p=0.001 and non-dominant p=0.004, respectively). OCT-1 times significantly reduced in both VRG and MSG (p<0.001 and p<0.001,respectively), but did not significantly change in CG (p=0.073). Total number of errors significantly reduced in both VRG and MSG (p=0.001 and p=0.014, respectively), but did not significantly change in CG (p=0.302). Number of minor errors significantly reduced only in VRG (p=0.006). OCT-2 times were not significantly different between groups (p>0.05). Number of minor errors, major errors and total errors were significantly different between CG and other two groups (minor errors: VRG-CG p=0.041 and MSG-CG p=0.015; major errors: VRG-CG p=0.001 and MSG-CG p=0.006; total errors: VRG-CG p=0.002 and MSG-CG p=0.001). Conclusion: According to our findings, mental training with VR and MS can significantly improve balance and coordination test results. This is a promising result for using mental exercises in prevention and rehabilitation for special populations such as elder adults and athletes. Keywords: virtual reality; postural control; motor coordination; spectroscopy; mirror neurons