Can Wii Fit #Exergame Help Elderly With Balance & Gait?

The authors wanted to know if playing 3 Wii Fit games (50/50 Challenge, Ski Slalom and Soccer) would be comparable to a typical dynamic functional task, such as gait.

Click here to read the results from this study on Exergame Lab...

Wii Fit Moves Women into Moderate Intensity Physical Activity - MPA (study)

Image by WindRanch via Flickr

Cross-posted from ExerGame Lab:

In this recent Wii Fit study, researchers investigated the energy expenditure of young females across different game levels.  Of course it makes sense that different levels will require different movements or more intense or more frequent movements, but until now there has been little in the area of level of game play and energy demands.

Population: Adults (young female)

Number of Participants: n=8

ExerGame Software Title: Wii Fit

Games: Stepping and Hula

Levels: Beginner and Intermediate

Results: Highest energy expenditure and % of VO2 max at intermediate hula - but still in the moderate level of physical activity intensity MPA (~4.5 MET).

Points 2 Ponder (P2P)

• What does the hardest level look like in terms of VO2, METS, RPE, RER?
• Did the participants enjoy the games?
• Was their any correlation between enjoyment and perceived exertion?
• Would greater number of participants change the findings?

Worley, J., Rogers, S., & Kraemer, R. (2011). Metabolic Responses To Wii Fit™ Video Games At Different Game Levels Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research DOI: 10.1519/JSC.0b013e318207eae9