Acute Effect of the Virtual Reality Stimulus in the Performance of Swimmers: A Pilot Study

Virtual reality (VR) consists of the union between an individual and an integrated software and hardware system, where it is virtually transported to a simulated environment. Researches indicates that this technology changes variables related to the individual visual perception and motor capacity. Thus, there are a number of potential explanations for the positive effects encountered by the use of virtual reality in sports that need to be considered. In addition, when VR is used in conjunction with the Motor Imagery (MI) technique, it allows the triggering of a region of the brain responsible for motor activity, even though the action is not actually happening, thus making motor learning possible. This premise was used for developing an application in VR, where an athlete swims in a pool of approximately 20 meters. This application was used to train swimmers. Nine volunteers were divided into two groups, an experimental group (EG) consisting of 5 participants and a control group (CG) consisting of 4 participants. The CG is the group that will provide a standard for evaluation, while the EG is the group that will receive the experiment to be evaluated. EG swimmers received a stimulus through the virtual reality equipment, which increased the number of strokes required to perform the 20 meters front crawl in 10%. On the other hand, the CG witnessed in the VR a stimulus similar to the situation (travel time and number of strokes) of its original performance. Both groups received the same amount of VR stimulus time. After the VR stimulus, it was expected that only the EG obtained changes in the stimulated variables, which did not occur. It was observed that both groups achieved a change in the frequency and in their stroke cycle, but without significant change in their velocity. Although the result was not exactly the expected one, we were able to show that the MI technique in conjunction with VR had an influence on the athlete's performance.