264 Effect of the Wii sport boxing video game on the heart rate in cardiac rehabilitation patients

Abstract

Physical exercise is an important part of the rehabilitation program in cardiac patients. The new generations of active video games allow performing various recreational sport activities at home. However, the cardiac impact of virtual sport activities has been poorly investigated. The purpose of this prospective study was to analyze the heart rate (HR) response of cardiac patients while playing a commercially available gaming system: Wii sports boxing game software. Twenty seven voluntary patients (5 women, 22 men, mean age 50.6 +−13.3 years old) were included in the study after completion of a 6 week cardiac rehabilitation (CR) program. Causes of admission in CR were: percutaneous transluminal angioplasty (33%), coronary artery bypass grafting (19%), valve replacement (15%), dilated cardiomyopathy (11%), other (22%). Patients performed an exercise testing (ET) with gas exchanges measurement at the end of the CR program and before playing video game. The exercise testing allowed the determination of the ventilatory threshold HR and the maximum HR. Participants played competitive boxing matches for 15 minutes, as recommended by Nintendo, with a five minute warm up. HR was recorded using a polar system (S610i) whilst playing Wii sports boxing and compared to ET measures. All participants had not previously used Wii and consented to the study. During virtual sport activity, mean HR was 106+/−25 bpm and maximum heart rate was 190 bpm. Throughout the HR recordings, 49 +− 35% of the game (8.24 min +− 6.22) was performed with a HR above the ventilatory threshold HR (107.0 +/−17.6 bpm). Finally, HR was higher than the ET maximum HR during 9% +− 16% of the game (1.52 min +−3.22). In this preliminary study, the main part of the Wii sports boxing game lead to an HR above the anaerobic threshold, implying an important demand on anaerobic metabolism. Consequently, caution should be recommended to cardiac patients before playing virtual sport activities on video game.