Watch where you walk! Necessary or not?

What is it about?

Vision is the key sense upon which we rely to ambulate. Vision allows one to navigate through the environment while avoiding obstacles and ensuring a correct orientation to the desired destination. In addition, the sense of touch (mostly through feet), the information from muscles and joints (proprioception), as well as the sense of equilibrium provided by the inner ear, are also important to maintain a stable gait. In this study, we sought to demonstrate that human beings can walk with a stable gait without the help of vision, relying only on the other senses.

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Why is it important?

We conducted a large experiment including 100 healthy participants, who walked on a treadmill either with eyes open or blindfolded. A safety harness guaranteed safe and reassuring conditions. An accelerometer was used to assess gait stability and variability. The results showed that gaits were equally stable with or without vision. This highlights that humans can adapt to low light or dark conditions by maintaining a stable gait without vision, relying upon the other senses.