Skjæret-Maroni Nina, Vonstad Elise K, Ihlen Espen A F, Tan Xiang-Chun, Helbostad Jorunn L, Vereijken Beatrix
Department of Neuroscience, Faculty of Medicine, Norwegian University of Science and Technology Trondheim, Norway.
Research Department, Sunnaas Rehabilitation Hospital Nesodden, Norway.
Front Psychol. 2016 Jun 24;7:964. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00964. eCollection 2016.
Despite frequent use of exergames in intervention studies to improve physical function in older adults, we lack knowledge about the movements performed during exergaming. This causes difficulties for interpreting results of intervention studies and drawing conclusions about the efficacy of exergames to exercise specific functions important for the elderly population. The aim of the current study was to investigate whether game and game level affect older adults' stepping and upper body movements while playing stepping exergames. A 3D-motion capture experiment was performed with 20 elderly (12 women and 8 men; age range 65-90 years), playing two exergames, The Mole from SilverFit and LightRace in YourShape: Fitness Evolved, on two difficulty levels, with five 1-min trials for each game and level. Reflective markers were placed on bases of first toe, heels, and lower back. Movement characteristics were analyzed with a linear mixed model. Results indicated that both game and game level affected movement characteristics. Participants took shorter steps and had lower step velocity when playing The Mole compared to LightRace, while The Mole prompted more variation in step length and step velocity. Compared to LightRace, The Mole elicited larger upper body movements in both ML- and AP-directions and participants' feet and upper body covered a larger area. Increasing difficulty level from Easy to Medium resulted in overall decrease of movement, except for number of steps and step speed when playing LightRace. Even with only two games, two levels, and five trials at each, this study indicates that the choice of exergame is not indifferent when aiming to exercise specific functions in older adults and that exergames need to be chosen and designed carefully based on the goals of the intervention.
尽管在干预研究中经常使用运动游戏来改善老年人的身体功能，但我们对运动游戏过程中的动作缺乏了解。这给解释干预研究结果以及就运动游戏对锻炼对老年人群体重要的特定功能的功效得出结论带来了困难。本研究的目的是调查游戏和游戏难度级别是否会影响老年人在玩踏步运动游戏时的踏步和上身动作。对20名老年人（12名女性和8名男性；年龄范围65 - 90岁）进行了一项三维运动捕捉实验，他们玩两款运动游戏，即SilverFit中的《打地鼠》和《YourShape：Fitness Evolved》中的《光影竞速》，在两个难度级别上进行，每个游戏和级别进行五次1分钟的试验。反光标记放置在第一跖趾关节、脚跟和下背部。使用线性混合模型分析运动特征。结果表明，游戏和游戏难度级别都会影响运动特征。与《光影竞速》相比，参与者在玩《打地鼠》时步幅更短，步速更低，而《打地鼠》在步长和步速上引发了更多变化。与《光影竞速》相比，《打地鼠》在ML和AP方向上引发了更大的上身动作，参与者的脚和上身覆盖的面积更大。将难度级别从简单提高到中等会导致整体运动减少，但玩《光影竞速》时的步数和步速除外。即使只有两款游戏、两个级别且每个级别进行五次试验，本研究表明，旨在锻炼老年人特定功能时，运动游戏的选择并非无关紧要，并且需要根据干预目标仔细选择和设计运动游戏。
