Anders Phillipp, Bengtson Espen Ingvald, Grønvik Karoline Blix, Skjæret-Maroni Nina, Vereijken Beatrix
Department of Neuromedicine and Movement Science, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Trondheim, Norway.
Sunnaas Rehabilitation Hospital, Bjørnemyr, Norway.
Front Sports Act Living. 2020 May 12;2:54. doi: 10.3389/fspor.2020.00054. eCollection 2020.
Falls in older adults are a serious threat to their health and independence, and a prominent reason for institutionalization. Incorrect weight shifts and poor executive functioning have been identified as important causes for falling. Exergames are increasingly used to train both balance and executive functions in older adults, but it is unknown how game characteristics affect the movements of older adults during exergaming. The aim of this study was to investigate how two key game elements, game speed, and the presence of obstacles, influence movement characteristics in older adults playing a balance training exergame. Fifteen older adults (74 ± 4.4 years) played a step-based balance training exergame, designed specifically for seniors to elicit weight shifts and arm stretches. The task consisted of moving sideways to catch falling grapes and avoid obstacles (falling branches), and of raising the arms to catch stationary chickens that appeared above the avatar. No steps in anterior-posterior direction were required in the game. Participants played the game for eight 2 min trials in total, at two speed settings and with or without obstacles, in a counterbalanced order across participants. A 3D motion capture system was used to capture position data of 22 markers fixed to upper and lower body. Calculated variables included step size, step frequency, single leg support, arm lift frequency, and horizontal trunk displacement. Increased game speed resulted in a decrease in mean single support time, step size, and arm lift frequency, and an increase in cadence, game score, and number of error messages. The presence of obstacles resulted in a decrease in single support ratio, step size, cadence, frequency of arm lifts, and game score. In addition, step size increased from the first to the second trial repetition. These results show that both game speed and the presence of obstacles influence players' movement characteristics, but only some of these effects are considered beneficial for balance training whereas others are detrimental. These findings underscore that an informed approach is necessary when designing exergames so that game settings contribute to rather than hinder eliciting the required movements for effective balance training.
老年人跌倒对其健康和独立性构成严重威胁，也是其被送入养老院的一个重要原因。不正确的体重转移和较差的执行功能已被确定为跌倒的重要原因。运动游戏越来越多地用于训练老年人的平衡能力和执行功能，但尚不清楚游戏特性如何影响老年人在运动游戏过程中的动作。本研究的目的是调查两个关键游戏元素，即游戏速度和障碍物的存在，如何影响玩平衡训练运动游戏的老年人的动作特征。15名老年人（74±4.4岁）玩了一款基于步骤的平衡训练运动游戏，该游戏是专门为老年人设计的，以引发体重转移和手臂伸展。任务包括侧身移动以接住掉落的葡萄并避开障碍物（掉落的树枝），以及举起手臂接住出现在虚拟角色上方的静止的鸡。游戏中不需要前后方向的步骤。参与者总共进行了8次2分钟的试验，在两种速度设置下，有或没有障碍物，参与者之间采用平衡顺序。使用3D运动捕捉系统捕捉固定在上半身和下半身的22个标记的位置数据。计算的变量包括步长、步频、单腿支撑、手臂举起频率和躯干水平位移。游戏速度的增加导致平均单支撑时间、步长和手臂举起频率降低，以及节奏、游戏得分和错误消息数量增加。障碍物的存在导致单支撑比率、步长、节奏、手臂举起频率和游戏得分降低。此外，步长从第一次试验重复到第二次试验重复时增加。这些结果表明，游戏速度和障碍物的存在都会影响玩家的动作特征，但其中只有一些影响被认为对平衡训练有益，而其他影响则是有害的。这些发现强调，在设计运动游戏时，需要一种明智的方法，以便游戏设置有助于而不是阻碍引发有效平衡训练所需的动作。
