Beneficial Effects of Interactive Physical-Cognitive Game-Based Training on Fall Risk and Cognitive Performance of Older Adults

Abstract

Physical and cognitive declines are significant risk factors for falls. Promising evidence suggests that combined physical-cognitive training would be an effective fall risk reduction and cognitive improvement intervention. However, a limited number of studies have been conducted and findings have been inconclusive. This study investigated the effects of interactive physical-cognitive game-based training on the fall risk and cognitive performance of older adults. Forty participants were randomly allocated to the intervention (n = 20) and control (n = 20) groups. Participants in the intervention group performed a 1 h session, 3 times a week for 12 weeks of the interactive physical-cognitive game-based training program. Fall risk (Physiological Profile Assessment, PPA; and Timed Up and Go, TUG) and cognitive outcome (Montreal Cognitive Assessment, MoCA) were assessed at pre- and post-intervention. Thirty-nine participants (mean age = 69.81 ± 3.78 years) completed the study (97.5%). At the end of the trial, participants in the intervention group demonstrated significant improvement in the PPA fall risk score (p = 0.015), postural sway (p = 0.005), MoCA score (p = 0.001), and TUG-dual task (p = 0.045) compared to controls. In conclusion, the interactive physical-cognitive, game-based training was effective in reducing physiological fall risk and improving cognitive function in community-dwelling older adults.

Cognitive Intervention Using Information and Communication Technology for Older Adults with Mild Cognitive Impairment: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

“…In papers in which four or more items were found to be ‘high risk’, through author agreement, we decided to exclude them as papers for systematic review and data ex-traction. Accordingly, a total of 11 papers [ 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 , 46 ] were included except Styliadis (2015) for systematic review and data extraction ( Figure 2 ).…”

CogniViTra, a Digital Solution to Support Dual-Task Rehabilitation Training

“…Table 1 presents relevant studies [3,[51][52][53][54][55][56][57][58][59][60][61][62][63][64][65] related to the use of digital solutions to support physical activities or cognitive and physical activities with different purposes (i.e., postural control and prevention of falls [51,53,54,58,59,65], assistance in physical exercises [52,56,61], physical activity adherence [55], improvement of physical performance [58][59][60]63,64], and improvement of cognitive performance [3,57,60,62,64]). The studies are supported in various types of technologies, namely exergames and virtual reality [51,53,54,[57][58][59][60][61][62][63]…”

“…The studies are supported in various types of technologies, namely exergames and virtual reality [51,53,54,[57][58][59][60][61][62][63]65], robotics [52,56,61], and mobile devices [3]. In turn, some of these articles report interactions mechanisms based on the recognition of body movements (e.g., using Kinect [51,52,57,58,65], Nintendo Wii Fit [53], or wearable devices [59,60]), feet movements using step training platforms [54,63], or leg movements on a training bicycle [55]. When compared with stat-of-the-art technological solutions, the study reported by this article presents two important advantages: (i) support tools and clinical information integration and (ii) automatic quantification of patient's cognitive performance during dual-task training.…”

Effects of exergaming on executive function of older adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis

“…Prior studies that have examined the effects of exergaming in older adults have focused primarily on balance ( Whyatt et al, 2015 ; Padala et al, 2017 ), postural control ( Merriman et al, 2015 ; Sato et al, 2015 ), and quality of life ( Collado-Mateo et al, 2017 ; Schumacher et al, 2018 ). Relatively few studies have focused on exergaming effects on EF ( Barcelos et al, 2015 ; Anderson-Hanley et al, 2018 ) and fewer still on specific domains of EF ( Monteiro-Junior et al, 2017b ; Phirom, Kamnardsiri & Sungkarat, 2020 ), as opposed to EF as a whole.…”