Presenter(s)

Rebekah Revadelo

Comments

3:00-4:15, Kennedy Union Ballroom

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Description

Task specific training can be an effective rehabilitation technique for people with spinal cord injuries (SCI) and virtual reality (VR) is a useful tool for presenting movement tasks in a controlled and systematic way. Upper extremity rehabilitation is especially important for people with SCI, which fits with many VR movement tasks. We sought to assess how blocked-task and random-task practice techniques would impact task performance for 7 SCI subjects playing the VR game Beat Saber. Subjects were instructed to cut through blocks in a specified direction in time to the beat of a song. Performance analysis of Cut Offset Error and Cut Angle Error were recorded for the dominant and nondominant side across 4 trials in the order Blocked 1, Random 1, Random 2, Blocked 2. We hypothesized that performance would decrease between baseline and the first random trial but improve between the first and last blocked trials. We expected improvements on both sides, however, changes were driven by the nondominant side, while the dominant side was steady across trials. For Cut Offset Error, the nondominant side improved between the Random 1 and Blocked 2 trials. For Cut Angle Error, the nondominant side improved between the Blocked 1 and Blocked 2 trials. Results suggest that this practice method can help people with SCI to maintain equal bilateral ability, which is important for their mobility and independence.

Publication Date

4-23-2025

Project Designation

Graduate Research

Primary Advisor

Allison L. Kinney, Megan E. Reissman, Timothy Reissman

Primary Advisor's Department

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

Keywords

Stander Symposium, School of Engineering

Institutional Learning Goals

Practical Wisdom; Vocation

Impact of Arm Dominance and Practice Type on Movement Task Performance Post Spinal Cord Injury

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