Exploring movement reproduction in three-dimensional space: A comparative pilot study among people with visual impairment

Abstract

Teaching physiotherapy in a higher education institution for visually impaired students requires adjustments. The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of vision on the quality of upper limb movement reproduction. We analysed the replication of a simple movement along three spatial axes: X, Y, and Z, corresponding to movements in horizontal, vertical, and depth dimensions, respectively. The findings reveal that all three groups (blind, visual impairment, and sighted) exhibited significantly larger errors when reproducing movements along the Z-axis compared to the X and Y axes. Both blind and sighted participants obtained similar results, while visually impaired participants significantly differed from the sighted participants. Specifically, visually impaired participants demonstrated overproduction, compared to sighted participants. These results indicate that individuals in the visually impaired group, who still retain some visual ability, face greater challenges in reproducing movements across all three spatial dimensions compared to both the blind and sighted groups. Therefore, when teaching the practice of physiotherapy, it appears essential to take into account the degree of vision (visual impairment and blindness) and particular attention must be paid to visually impaired students.