Recruiting

V-TARGET

Sponsor:

The University of Texas at Arlington

Code:

NCT06727942

Conditions

Adult ALL

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: All

Age: 18 - 70+

Healthy Volunteers: Accepted

Interventions

V-TARGET intervention

Study Details

Brief summary:

Age-associated motor and cognitive deficits increase the risk of falls, a major cause of morbidity and mortality. Emerging evidence suggests that inflammatory mediators lead to impaired functional capacity and frailty in the elderly and suggests that immune system mediated inflammation in the brain play an important role in cognitive decline. Substantial literature has also demonstrated that age-targeted physical activity training are promising strategies for promoting the motor-cognitive process across the adult lifespan. Recently, the virtual reality (VR) application has been implemented in the neuropsychological rehabilitation settings suggesting that the VR-infused daily living activities may benefit the transfer of intervention outcomes and to promote autonomy in function of daily living such as cooking or grocery shopping. However, it remains unclear the effect of the VR-based exercise intervention (motor-cognitive impact) on older adults' cognitive function and fall prevention. The literature suggests that the similarity of VR exercises with real life activities may improve generalizability by extending the transfer of gains of training to everyday living and promote some aspects of quality of life in older adults. It is also unclear to what extent these aging-associated motor- cognitive changes may be affected by VR rehab games and whether systemic- and neuro-inflammation is ameliorated by this novel intervention in older adults.

This purpose of this study is to design and implement a Virtual Reality-Infused Treadmill Training on Aging-Related Outcomes (V-TARGET) intervention, focusing on adults (aged up to 75 years old). The study will compare the effects of V-TARGET intervention (self-paced treadmill-simulator exercise with VR rehab games) against a control group on motor-cognitive function, health-related quality of life (HRQOL), circulating inflammatory markers and cerebral/peripheral blood flow through this 5-week intervention (2 times/week, 30-minutes/session, 10 sessions total).

Conditions

Adult ALL

Study ID

NCT06727942

Start date

May 10, 2022

Status verified date

May, 2026

Completion date

Aug 31, 2027

Anticipated

Primary completion date

Aug 31, 2027

Anticipated

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

Sex: All

Age: 18 - 70+

Healthy Volunteers: Accepted

Inclusion Criteria:

1. adults aged up to 75 years old
2. able to walk independently, without use of an assistive device
3. English speaking

Exclusion Criteria:

1. self-disclosed limited mobility in joint(s) due to arthritis or other condition that would prevent participation
2. any ongoing orthopedic injury
3. cardiac surgery or any ongoing cardiovascular issues preventing participation or physical activity.
4. motor/cognitive disorders (Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, dementia, etc.)
5. use of a wheelchair

Study Design

Enrollment

60 participants

Anticipated

Allocation

Randomized

Intervention Model

Parallel Assignment

Primary purpose

Prevention

Interventions and Outcome Measures

Arms

experimental: V-TARGET intervention group

All participants in the V-TARGET intervention group will exercise on the Virtuix Omni 360-degree self-paced, non-powered treadmill-simulator in the lab for 5-weeks (2 days/week, 30 minutes/session, 10 sessions total. The treadmill-simulator is a first-of-its-kind motion platform on which an individual can walk and run at a self-paced speed in 360 degrees (i.e., forwards, sideways and backwards) without risk of falling or colliding with other people.

The V-TARGET intervention group will self-pace their locomotor action (walking/running) on the Omni treadmill-simulator while they wear the Pico Neo 2 head-mounted display (HMD) headset and use the Neuro Rehab VR XR Therapy system to experience daily activity exercises/games, including Retail Therapy, Explore (gait training), Lunchtime Adventure, and Nature Walk.

no intervention: The waitlist control group

The control group will not do any VR exercise but will only complete the pre-post and 1-month follow-up assessment upon signing up the study.

Interventions

V-TARGET intervention

V-TARGET intervention will be delivered through a 360 degree self-paced treadmill in a university clinical laboratory for 5-weeks (2 days/week, 30 minutes/session) with total 10 sessions. The treadmill is the first-of-kind motion platform that an individual can walk and run at self-paced speed in 360 degree (i.e., forwards, sideways and backwards) without risk of falling or colliding with other people. During the V-TARGET intervention, participants will self-pace their locomotor action (walking/running) while they wear the HTC vivo headset and experience daily exercises/games augmented by the VR Therapy System. Therapy System is a library of VR exercises/games targeted on neurological rehabilitation, balance improvement training as well as cognitive therapy suited for variety of conditions, and includes various daily living simulation activities such as Retail Shopping, Gait Training, Cafeteria Experience, and Nature Walk.

Primary outcome measure

  • Motor Function [ Time Frame: Baseline & immediately following the intervention & and again at 1-month following completion of the intervention. ]
  • Motor skill [ Time Frame: Baseline & immediately following the intervention & and again at 1-month following completion of the intervention. ]
  • Cognitive function: Multitasking test (MTT) [ Time Frame: Baseline & immediately following the intervention & and again at 1-month following completion of the intervention. ]
  • Cognitive function: The spatial working memory (SWM) test [ Time Frame: Baseline & immediately following the intervention & and again at 1-month following completion of the intervention. ]

Central Contacts and Locations

Central contacts

Associate Professor

817-272-3318xiangli.gu@uta.edu

Professor

817-272-3156matthew.brothers@uta.edu

Locations

University of Texas at Arlington Movement & Physical Activity Epidemiology Laboratory

Recruiting

Arlington, Texas, United States, 76019

Contacts

Kinesiology Administrator

817-272-3109cindyks@uta.edu

MPAE Lab manager

817-272-3318caifang.wu@uta.edu

Principal Investigator:

Associate Professor

More Information

Sponsor

The University of Texas at Arlington

Last update posted

May 29, 2026

Last verified

May, 2026

Keywords

  • Virtual-Reality
  • Fall Risk Invention
  • Physical Activity
  • Neuromotor Rehabilitation

Trial information was received from ClinicalTrials.gov and was last updated on 2026-09-09. This information was provided to ClinicalTrials.gov by The University of Texas at Arlington on 2026-05-29.