Nintendo Wii Fit Balance Board Research Articles

Effect of hypertension on muscle strength, balance, and mobility in older adults

Purpose: Hypertension (HT) can exacerbate impaired blood pressure regulation and thus increase the risk of falls. The higher incidence of HT and impaired balance in older adults may lead to the hypothesis of an association between HT and physical function in older individuals. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of HT on muscle strength, balance, and mobility in older adults and the relationship between them. Methods: Sixty-one older adults were included in the study and individuals with systolic blood pressure ≥140 mmHg or diastolic blood pressure ≥90 mmHg formed the Hypertensive group (n=31), while the others formed the Normotensive group (n=30). Quadriceps Femoris (QF) muscle strength was evaluated with a hand-held dynamometer, mobility was evaluated with the Timed Up and Go Test (TUG), balance performance was evaluated with the Nintendo Wii Fit Balance Board (NWBB), and physiological age was evaluated with Wii Fit Age (WFA). The systolic and diastolic blood pressure were measured before the balance test. Results: TUG and NWBB scores between groups were significantly better in the Normotensive group (p<0.05). In both Hypertensive and Normotensive groups, there was a negative correlation between QF muscle strength and TUG score, and a positive correlation between QF muscle strength and NWBB score (p<0.05). Conclusion: HT may worsen mobility and balance in older adults. Further studies are required to better understand HT and establish better appropriate interventions for older hypertensive adults.

Effectiveness of Wii-Fit Combined with Conventional Exercises on the Functional Mobility and Balance of Children with Cerebral Palsy and Their Typically Growing Peers.

Nintendo Wii Fit is an accessible, affordable, and productive inclusion into rehabilitation programs for children with cerebral palsy (CP) as a physical activity intervention; however, to our knowledge, there are no comparative studies 8 investigating the effects on the functional mobility and balance of children with CP compared to typically growing (TG) children. We evaluated the effects of Nintendo Wii Fit video exercises on static and dynamic balance, functional capacity, and walking endurance in children with CP compared to their TG peers. Children with CP and their TG peers were trained with Nintendo Wii Fit Balance Board games and conventional exercises (40 minutes each) for 16 weeks, twice a week. Their static and dynamic balance, functional capacity, and walking endurance were evaluated at the beginning and end of the study. The improvement achieved within the groups in all parameters, as well as between the groups, was significant, except for the dynamic balance and walking endurance. Standing Nintendo Wii Fit exercises combined with conventional exercises can be included as axial exercises in the physiotherapy program for children with CP as an enjoyable physical activity. TG children may also benefit, increasing their functional mobility and walking endurance in a fun way.

Impaired Balance Assessment in Older People with Muscle Weakness Caused by Stroke

Stroke causes a severe impact in daily life movements. It affects a static balance in the human who has an impaired balance of their movement control. Assessing the evaluation criteria can be superseded via the movement, especially the Berg Balance scale, which is the gold standard in the assessment, even bringing a motion detector. To evaluate the balance assessment in stroke patient body, the physiotherapist uses the statistical methods to analyze the data. This research proposes the classification algorithm for evaluating the balance in the body of stroke patients with muscle weakness condition. It improves the algorithm’s accuracy in data prediction for measuring the validity of regaining balance while standing. The dataset has three main factors, including personal information, a diagnosis from a physiotherapist, and the performance standing on the Nintendo Wii Fit Balance Board. By evaluating with various scenario of different amount of attributes, the dataset with three attributes has the highest accuracy rate. Classifying information is used as a guideline in assessing the information on how to regain a patient’s balance control during standing. The most accurate classification method is the Artificial Neural Network with accurate 93% of the times for prediction and classification.

Supervised Balance Training and Wii Fit–Based Exercises Lower Falls Risk in Older Adults With Type 2 Diabetes

ObjectivesThis study examined the benefits of and differences between 12 weeks of thrice-weekly supervised balance training and an unsupervised at-home balance activity (using the Nintendo Wii Fit) for improving balance and reaction time and lowering falls risk in older individuals with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). DesignBefore-after trial. SettingUniversity research laboratory, home environment. ParticipantsSixty-five older adults with type 2 diabetes were recruited for this study. Participants were randomly allocated to either supervised balance training (mean age 67.8 ± 5.2) or unsupervised training using the Nintendo Wii Fit balance board (mean age 66.1 ± 5.6). InterventionThe training period for both groups lasted for 12 weeks. Individuals were required to complete three 40-minute sessions per week for a total of 36 sessions. MeasurementThe primary outcome measure was falls risk, which was as derived from the physiological profile assessment. In addition, measures of simple reaction time, lower limb proprioception, postural sway, knee flexion, and knee extension strength were also collected. Persons also self-reported any falls in the previous 6 months. ResultsBoth training programs resulted in a significant lowering of falls risk (P < .05). The reduced risk was attributable to significant changes in reaction times for the hand (P < .05), foot (P < .01), lower-limb proprioception (P < .01), and postural sway (P < .05). ConclusionsOverall, training led to a decrease in falls risk, which was driven by improvements in reaction times, lower limb proprioception, and general balance ability. Interestingly, the reduced falls risk occurred without significant changes in leg strength, suggesting that interventions to reduce falls risk that target intrinsic risk factors related to balance control (over muscle strength) may have positive benefits for the older adult with T2DM at risk for falls.

Nintendo Wii Fit-Based Sleepiness Testing is Not Impaired by Contagious Sleepiness.

Sleep deprivation may cause accidents, and it has deteriorating effects on health. A measurement of postural steadiness by a portable and affordable Nintendo Wii Fit balance board can be used to quantify a person's alertness. At work, people are under the influence of their environment—often other people—that may affect their alertness. This work investigates whether sleep deprivation among people is “contagious,” as quantified by sway measures. We measured 21 volunteers' postural steadiness while alert and sleep deprived. During the measurements, a screen placed in front of the participants showed a footage of either alert or sleep-deprived faces. We found a significant difference between the day time and night time steadiness, but found no effect resulting from watching footage of sleep-deprived people. This finding shows that a posturographic sleepiness tester quantifies physiological sleep deprivation, and is insensitive to the influence of social factors.

Does an exercise programme integrating the Nintendo Wii-Fit Balance Board improve balance in ambulatory children with cerebral palsy?

Background: Cerebral palsy is a common childhood movement disorder with balance impairment a common complaint. Active video games such as the Nintendo Wii-Fit have been found to be a valuable therapeutic tool, enjoyed by a variety of populations including children with CP, but a synthesis of the research investigating its specific use for balance in children with CP has yet to be conducted.Objectives: To determine the effectiveness of a Nintendo Wii-Fit Balance board programme in improving balance in ambulatory children with CP.Methods: A systematic search of the literature was conducted. A total of six studies matching inclusion and exclusion criteria were found and critically appraised by a modified version of Downs and Black's Checklist.Results: All studies used the Nintendo Wii-Fit software, with variable programme length and frequency of sessions. All but one study demonstrated a significant improvement in at least one balance outcome post-intervention, with dynamic balance appearing to be greater influenced.Discussion: The impact of age on the results was inconclusive. Children with cognitive, visual or vestibular impairments may show less of an improvement. A 6-week programme appears sufficient, provided training frequency remains high. Overall, there is moderate evidence to suggest that a Nintendo Wii-Fit Balance Board programme can improve balance in children with CP.Conclusions: Balance training with a Nintendo Wii-Fit Balance Board can enhance balance in individuals with ambulatory CP. Due to limited evidence investigating ataxic or dyskinetic CP, results from this study should be generalised with caution to these subtypes. Future research should aim to investigate the long-term effects of the intervention.

Measurements of Weight Bearing Asymmetry Using the Nintendo Wii Fit Balance Board Are Not Reliable for Older Adults and Individuals With Stroke.

Clinicians and researchers have used bathroom scales, balance performance monitors with feedback, postural scale analysis, and force platforms to evaluate weight bearing asymmetry (WBA). Now video game consoles offer a novel alternative for assessing this construct. By using specialized software, the Nintendo Wii Fit balance board can provide reliable measurements of WBA in healthy, young adults. However, reliability of measurements obtained using only the factory settings to assess WBA in older adults and individuals with stroke has not been established. To determine whether measurements of WBA obtained using the Nintendo Wii Fit balance board and default settings are reliable in older adults and individuals with stroke. Weight bearing asymmetry was assessed using the Nintendo Wii Fit balance board in 2 groups of participants-individuals older than 65 years (n = 41) and individuals with stroke (n = 41). Participants were given a standardized set of instructions and were not provided auditory or visual feedback. Two trials were performed. Intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC), standard error of measure (SEM), and minimal detectable change (MDC) scores were determined for each group. The ICC for the older adults sample was 0.59 (0.35-0.76) with SEM95 = 6.2% and MDC95 = 8.8%. The ICC for the sample including individuals with stroke was 0.60 (0.47-0.70) with SEM95 = 9.6% and MDC95 = 13.6%. Although measurements of WBA obtained using the Nintendo Wii Fit balance board, and its default factory settings, demonstrate moderate reliability in older adults and individuals with stroke, the relatively high associated SEM and MDC values substantially reduce the clinical utility of the Nintendo Wii Fit balance board as an assessment tool for WBA. Weight bearing asymmetry cannot be measured reliably in older adults and individuals with stroke using the Nintendo Wii Fit balance board without the use of specialized software.

Using Serious Games and Virtual Simulation for Training in the Fire Service: A Review

Fire fighting is an extremely physiologically and psychologically demanding occupation, requiring tremendous resources for training personnel as well as incurring significant workplace safety and insurance board (WSIB) costs. Approximately 33% of fire fighter injuries result from exposure to fire leading to the possibility of reducing these injuries through training fire fighters to make better decisions, particularly when under stress. Simulation (and virtual simulation in particular) offers a safe and cost-effective alternative to practice with real fire, offering entry level training to aid fire fighters to reach a specific competency level. With the ubiquity of video game play and advent of new consumer-level physical interfaces for video games (e.g., the Nintendo Wii Fit balance-board and the Microsoft Kinect), serious games (games whose primary purpose is education and training), are able to provide users with innovative interactive techniques that are highly engaging and immersive. This paper reviews the development of serious games and virtual simulation applications that may be utilized for training in the fire service. Current technology allows for the simulation of fire spread and smoke movement along with training certain fire fighting skills and incident command co-ordination. To date, gaming technology is not capable of providing a real world scenario that is completely and faithfully accurate in a dynamic virtual environment. Future work could utilize serious games to also recreate the decision making processes and the physical requirements that fire fighters encounter in an emergency situation. These could be incorporated into a simulation environment where the physical and psychological stresses are analogous to live fire fighting situations.

Evaluation of walking in place on a Wii balance board to explore a virtual environment

In this work, we present a method of “Walking In Place” (WIP) on the Nintendo Wii Fit Balance Board to explore a virtual environment. We directly compare our method to joystick locomotion and normal walking. The joystick proves inferior to physically walking and to WIP on the Wii Balance Board (WIP--Wii). Interestingly, we find that physically exploring an environment on foot is equivalent in terms of spatial orientation to exploring an environment using our WIP--Wii method. This implies that the WIP--Wii is a good inexpensive alternative to exploring a virtual environment and it may be well--suited for exploring large virtual environments.

The Effects of the Nintendo Wii Fit on Community-Dwelling Older Adults with Perceived Balance Deficits: A Pilot Study

ABSTRACTThe purpose of this study was to determine if a 6-week intervention program using the Nintendo Wii Fit Balance Board would lead to improvements in balance in community-dwelling older adults over the age of 65 with a perceived balance deficit. Balance, balance confidence, and limits of stability were measured at preintervention and postintervention using the Berg Balance Scale (BBS), Activities-specific Balance Confidence Scale, and the Multi-Directional Reach Test, respectively. The center of pressure excursion was calculated by the Wii Balance Board. The intervention consisted of 30-min sessions, 2×/week using the Balance Board. No statistically significant changes were found for any outcome measure, although 4 of the 6 participants demonstrated clinically significant improvements on the BBS, using established clinical guidelines. These findings suggest that an intervention program including the Wii fit may be an effective rehabilitation option for older adults with perceived balance deficits.

An exploratory study on the effects of Nintendo Wii® Fit Balance Board on balance retraining and body mass index of adolescents with a traumatic brain injury

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of the Nintendo Wii Fit Balance Board® on balance of two adolescent females with a traumatic brain injury and on their body mass index (BMI). The participants attended a balance retraining program, with three sessions a week for 30 minutes for four consecutive weeks. The balance of the participants was measured both by recording raw game scores on the Nintendo Wii Fit games each session and by the use of the Berg Balance Scale (BBS), which was administered pretest and post-test. The BMI was also determined by using the Nintendo Wii Fit Balance Board. Both participants showed improved balance game scores during the Wii Fit sessions. However, for both participants, there were no significant differences on the BBS and on their BMI.

Development of an Interactive Game-Based Rehabilitation Tool for Dynamic Balance Training

Conventional physical therapy techniques have been shown to improve balance, mobility, and gait following neurological injury. Treatment involves training patients to transfer weight onto the impaired limb to improve weight shift while standing and walking. Visual biofeedback and force plate systems are often used for treatment of balance and mobility disorders. Researchers have also been exploring the use of video game consoles such as the Nintendo Wii Fit as rehabilitation tools. Case studies have demonstrated that the use of video games may have promise for balance rehabilitation. However, initial usability studies and anecdotal evidence suggest that the current commercial games are not compatible with controlled, specific exercise required to meet therapy goals. Based on focus group data and observations with patients, a game has been developed to specifically target weight shift training using an open source game engine and the Nintendo Wii Fit Balance Board. The prototype underwent initial usability testing with a sample of clinicians and with persons with neurological injury. Overall, feedback was positive, and areas for improvement were identified. This preliminary research provides support for the development of a game that caters specifically to the key requirements of balance rehabilitation.