Original articleVideo Game–Based Exercises for Balance Rehabilitation: A Single-Subject Design
Section snippets
Methods
This section first gives an overview of the COP-controlled video games and their integration with the Force Sensitive Applications (FSA) pressure mapping system.a Next, the exercise program is discussed, detailing the research design, test protocol, and outcome measures used to validate the video game tool as an effective exercise program.
Results
The results of the questionnaires were very positive. The 3 subjects reported that they had fun playing the video game–based balance exercises and often lost track of time. They stated that they greatly preferred the training sessions with video games over the exercise programs they have performed in the past. The video games were challenging to play and were adjusted to meet the needs and performance levels of each subject.
Discussion
Our COP-controlled video game–based exercises were found to improve subjects’ dynamic balance control. Most important, postexercise case 1 and case 2 exhibited a decrease in their fall rate and case 3 was able to independently maintain standing balance for 20 seconds. For case 1, the COP excursion and path length values decreased postexercise for all tasks where standing balance was maintained pre- and postexercise. The values for case 2 were more variable. For tasks where case 2 maintained
Conclusions
Our goal was to evaluate the benefits of our video game–based exercise regime, by quantifying the amount of recovery pre-exercise versus postexercise. Our findings demonstrated that graded, dynamic balance exercises on different surfaces can be effectively coupled to video game play. In addition to the training program being enjoyable, all 3 subjects improved their fall rate performance as a result of the video game–based exercise therapy. The ability to customize our system to each subject’s
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Supported by the Manitoba Health Research Council (studentship), Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (fellowship), and Riverview Health Centre Research Foundation.
No commercial party having a direct financial interest in the results of the research supporting this article has or will confer a benefit upon the authors or upon any organization with which the authors are associated.