Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2026

DOI

10.3389/frvir.2026.1949841

Publication Title

Frontiers in Virtual Reality

Volume

7

Pages

1949841 (11 pp.)

Abstract

Introduction: Fear and anxiety about falling can disrupt gait control, leading to activity restriction and increased fall risk in older adults. VR can be used to induce postural threat (e.g., by simulating high elevation settings) within a controlled environment, inducing fall-related anxiety and cautious gait (i.e. slower, shorter steps) in young and older adults. However, it is unknown how emotional and motor responses to VR postural threat habituate across time because existing studies feature short exposures (10 seconds or less). Before VR-induced postural threat can be translated into an intervention, it is critical to understand threat-related gait habituation across time. Therefore,we investigated compensatory changes to gait within a one-minute exposure to VR-induced fall-related anxiety.

Methods: Eighteen able-bodied young adults (mean age = 24.5 ± 6.4 years standard deviation) walked at self-selected speeds in low VR elevations (ground level) and high VR elevations (~15-m elevation) along a wooden walkway (0.4 x 5.2m) for one minute. Spatiotemporal metrics for the first six (T1) and last six straight steps (T2) of each condition were calculated from 3D foot position.

Results and Discussion: Results revealed significant interactions between Height and Time for step length (p < .001), gait speed (p < .001), single support time (p < .001), and double support time (p < .001). This reveals that changes within a trial at high virtual elevation suggest gait became less cautious over time with exposure to postural threat in young adults. Habituation of gait with exposure to postural threat conditions shows the potential use of VR as an intervention to reduce the effects of fall-related anxiety on gait.

Rights

© 2026 Poretti, Ellmers, Rhea and Raffegeau.

This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original authors and the copyright owners are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

Data Availability

Article states: "The raw data supporting the conclusions of this article will be made available by the authors, without undue reservation."

ORCID

0000-0001-7256-4508 (Rhea)

Original Publication Citation

Poretti, K., Ellmers, T., Rhea, C. K., & Raffegeau, T. (2026). Walking it off: Habituation of gait at virtual high elevation. Frontiers in Virtual Reality, 7, Article 1949841. https://doi.org/10.3389/frvir.2026.1949841

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