Influence of wearing a head-mounted display on the movement execution of basic elements on the balance beam in women's artistic gymnastics

Virtual reality in artistic gymnastics has hardly been researched yet, but could have positive effects on learning movements, particularly on the balance beam, whose width and height demand significant effort. This study aimed to identify suitable gymnastics elements for the execution with a head-mounted display (HMD), considering potential performance impacts related to its size, weight, and limited field of view. Twelve basic elements covering the characteristics of the balance beam were performed by 36 competitive gymnasts (16.5 ± 6.6 years) on a low beam (10 cm) with and without the HTC VIVE Pro Eye HMD, which displayed the real environment through its cameras instead of a virtual one. A helmet with similar dimensions and weight to the HMD was used as a third condition to isolate vision effects. Licensed judges evaluated all trials for recognition and execution based on international scoring rules. Both analyses show that the performance was more impacted by restricted vision than by additional weight. Execution quality varied significantly between the condition with and without HMD for all movement characteristics, although the differences were smaller for jumps, holds/acrobatic non-flight elements and leaps than for elements with turns. Consistent with this, no significant differences in jumps and holds/acrobatic non-flight were found between the original and helmet conditions. In summary, elements without longitudinal axis rotations are well-suited for HMD execution, and results can be improved with better hardware and longer familiarization. Future studies should prioritize good optical resolution, a large field of view, and compact design over low weight when selecting HMDs.