Virtual reality (VR) is an innovative tool for sensorimotor rehabilitation increasingly being employed in clinical and community settings. Despite the growing interest in VR, few studies have determined the validity of movements made in VR environments with respect to real physical environments. The goal of this study was to compare movements done in physical and virtual environments in adults with motor deficits to those in healthy individuals.

The participants were 8 healthy adults and 7 adults with mild left hemiparesis due to stroke. Kinematics of functional arm movements involving reaching, grasping and releasing made in physical and virtual environments were analyzed in two phases: 1) reaching and grasping the ball and 2) ball transport and release. The virtual environment included interaction with an object on a 2D computer screen and haptic force feedback from a virtual ball. Temporal and spatial parameters of reaching and grasping were determined for each phase.

Individuals in both groups were able to reach, grasp, transport, place and release the virtual and real ball using similar movement strategies. In healthy subjects, reaching and grasping movements in both environments were similar but these subjects used less wrist extension and more elbow extension to place the ball on the virtual vertical surface. Participants with hemiparesis made slower movements in both environments compared to healthy subjects and during transport and placing of the ball, trajectories were more curved and interjoint coordination was altered. Despite these differences, patients with hemiparesis also tended to use less wrist extension during the whole movement and more elbow extension at the end of the placing phase.

Differences in movements made by healthy subjects in the two environments may be explained by the use of a 2D instead of a 3D virtual environment and the absence of haptic feedback from the VR target. Despite these differences, our findings suggest that both healthy subjects and individuals with motor deficits used similar movement strategies when grasping and placing a ball in the two reality conditions. This suggests that training of arm movements in VR environments may be a valid approach to the rehabilitation of patients with motor disorders.