The effects of virtual reality immersion on drop landing mechanics

Virtual reality (VR) can be used to alter the environment and challenge sensory calibration which rehabilitation and return-to-sport testing lack. The purpose was to establish how VR manipulation of the environment changes knee landing biomechanics. Twenty-nine healthy active adults (22 males; 20.52 ± 1.21 years; 1.75 ± 0.09 m; 78.34 ± 14.33 kg) were recruited. Three drop landing trials (31 cm height box) were performed for three conditions: eyes-open (EO), eyes-closed (EC), and VR, consisting of a head-mounted display of a 360° photo of a steep man-made edge or drop. Knee kinematics and kinetics were evaluated using 3D motion capture. The VR condition significantly increased Landing Error Score System errors relative to EO (1.28 ± 0.20, p