XRGait: Immersive Gait Training Visualization with Integrated Sensing

Gait training and rehabilitation have traditionally been done through movement observation during in-person sessions with medical professionals and follow-up exercises at home. However, these methods are costly, have low patient adherence, and have a decreased accuracy in assessing and modeling patient gait. We present XRGait, a system that seamlessly integrates wearable sensors with immersive technologies to provide real-time support for gait training and rehabilitation. Our system combines smart insoles and wearable motion tracking sensors with immersive displays to provide the patient with real-time feedback about their gait within an engaging training environment. We conducted two studies that compared various system environments and gait visualizations to inform optimal system usability and user experience. Our findings demonstrate that the level of immersion is a critical factor for user engagement in biofeedback-driven gait training, with immersive VR significantly outperforming mobile AR and non-immersive screen-based displays and participants found the real-time visualizations and feedback very useful, with a preference for the full lower body visualization. We discuss these findings, along with limitations and recommendations for future work.