Clinical trial related to Multiple Sclerosis.

Background: Regular physical activity is critical for healthy aging, yet older adults face persistent barriers to exercise adherence. #Exergames, such as video #Games that require physical movement, have emerged as a promising tool to engage older adults in regular exercise. However, most existing research focuses on physical and cognitive outcomes, with limited understanding of whether #Exergames are associated with behavioral changes, including sustained exercise habits, healthier lifestyles, and a sense of health ownership, which underpin older adults’ environmental mastery and self-management of their health. Objective: This pilot study investigated how participation in a community-based #Exergame program was associated with exercise habits, healthy lifestyles, and health ownership and examined the motivational factors driving longer-term adherence. Methods: This study used a single-group, pre-post pilot design. It involved 33 older adults participating in an #Exergame program across 2 community centers in Hong Kong. The program was meticulously designed to include 12 supervised training sessions (6 wk), followed by a 4-week free-play period to assess long-term adherence. A package of #Exergames, covering physical, social, and cognitive health, was selected. Each #Exergame session lasted 30 minutes. During this time, older adults played 3 different #Games, with each #Game taking 10 minutes. Changes in health status, well-being, physical activity level, exercise habits, healthy lifestyles, health ownership, and motivations to play #Exergames at 4 stages were continuously measured. We applied repeated-measures generalized linear model for health and habit outcomes, Mann-Whitney to examine the relationship between motivational factors and adherence, and Spearman correlation to test links between motivation and play frequency during the free-play period. Results: The linear mixed model results suggest that participation in the #Exergame program was positively associated with older adults’ healthy lifestyles (mean difference 0.70, 95% CI 0.14 to 1.25, =6.52;

YouTube video by ACM SIGCHI

In a randomized clinical trial enrolling older people living in a community setting, exergame step training on a computerized mat, but not seated cognitive training, decreased the rate of falls over t...

Exergames (EG) are interactive video games that require physical activity and use gamification to make exercise more engaging. EG interventions demons…

There is moderate-quality evidence of a reduction in the fall rate with exergame-assisted rehabilitation and low-quality evidence suggesting a mild reduction in the risk of falling. Statistically significant benefits from exergame-assisted rehabilitation did not achieve clinically meaningful changes …

Background: Exergaming, involving physically active play, provides a means for motivating and functional training. It may also offer an innovative solution for rehabilitation after sports injuries suc...

YouTube video by REVEAL

Read the latest articles of Neurobiology of Aging at ScienceDirect.com, Elsevier’s leading platform of peer-reviewed scholarly literature

Background: Given the appeal of active video #Games (AVG), many tools are now being used for combined training in older adults. However, there is a lack of comparative data to determine which type of AVG is better suited to older adults. Objective: The purpose of this study was to compare User Experience (UX), workload, pleasure, and intensity of three different experiences: (a) an Immersive and Interactive Wall #Exergame (I2WE), (b) a consumer device (SWITCH), and (c) a combination of video #Games and physical stimulation (biking and videogaming, BIKE-VG) for older adults. I2WE and SWITCH are categorized as Moving While Thinking training, meaning that the cognitive task is integrated into the motor/physical task. In contrast, BIKE-VG is categorized as Thinking While Moving training, where the cognitive and motor/physical tasks are not interconnected. The nature of the cognitive, physical, and/or motor combinations also differentiates them. I2WE is multi-domain training, while BIKE-VG is physical-cognitive training, and SWITCH is motor-cognitive training. Methods: Ninety older adults (mean age = 69.49 ± 5.78) were divided into three groups (I2WE, SWITCH, BIKE-VG). Each participant completed a 45-minute group session and then filled out questionnaires to evaluate UX, workload, pleasure, and intensity. Results: The UX was positive for I2WE and SWITCH, and neutral for BIKE-VG. It was higher for I2WE than for BIKE-VG (t(66) = 2.83, P = .02, d = 0.70, 95% CI 0.15 – 1.69). The workload was moderate across all three groups. The intensity was moderate for all groups, ranging between 50% and 70% of the maximum heart rate, and approached high intensity for the I2WE and SWITCH groups. It was significantly higher for I2WE than for BIKE-VG (t(66) = 2.86, P = .01, d = 0.70, 95% CI 1.04 – 11.43). The perceived pleasure was significantly higher for I2WE (t(66) = 3.63, P =.001, d = 0.90, 95% CI 2.74 – 13.23) and SWITCH (t(51) = 3.11, P = .01, d = 0.87, 95% CI 1.82 – 13.69) compared to BIKE-VG. Conclusions: The UX and perceived enjoyment are higher for the Moving While Thinking trainings compared to the Thinking While Moving training. This indicates that the I2WE and SWITCH training approaches are promising and motivating options for combined training for older adults.