The Influence of Visual Feedback on the Mental Representation of Gait in Patients with THR: A New Approach for an Experimental Rehabilitation Strategy

Due to total hip replacement (THR), patients reveal abnormal gait patterns which post-operative do often not return to “normal”. The restoration towards normal gait reduces stress on the adjacent joints which consequently reduces risk of osteoarthrosis development. Motor-performance is related to the structure of the movement in long-term memory, thus it seems to be essential to imprint correct gait patterns in there. Mental representation structures can develop over the course of training and visual feedback presumably helps regaining a better representation of gait in long-term memory. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effect of visual feedback on mental representation in patients with THR. In a randomized controlled trial, 20 women (57 ± 6 years) with THR have been enrolled. Subjects were randomly assigned to a control group (CG) or intervention group (IG). Additionally to inpatient treatment, all subjects participated in a standardized gait training including either an intervention based on verbal information from a physiotherapist (CG) or an intervention based on real-time visual feedback (IG). Mental representation was measured in pre-test and post-test using the structure-dimensional analysis. Results indicate significant improvements in mental representation of gait in the post-test only in IG, suggesting that beneficial effects were provoked by visual feedback.