JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Recently, ski exergames are gaining popularity due to the growing interest of people in improving their health. Conventional studies to evaluate the effect of the ski exergames had considered only exercise capacity but overlooked concentration. Ski exergames consist of a motion platform for exercise and virtual reality (VR) content for the game. The VR content enhances exercise capacity and concentration of the user by providing a challenging goal.

Objective:

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effects of the VR content in the ski exergame on exercise capacity and concentration of the users.

Methods:

To examine the effect of the VR content in the ski exergames, we performed two experiments, namely free exercise and game exercise, where participants exercised on the motion platform. If the user perform exercise freely without using VR content, we call it free exercise. Contrastingly, in the case of game exercise, the user exercise according to the VR content (downhill scenario). In addition to the range of motion (ROM) of the ankle and rated perceived exertion (RPE) to assess exercise capacity, we measured electroencephalogram (EEG) to assess concentration.

Results:

We evaluated the effect of the VR content by comparing the results obtained from the free exercise and game exercise. The experimental results indicate that the ROM of the ankle in the game exercise was wider than the same in the free exercise. Specifically, ROM of the ankle was 68.60° ± 13.79° and 124.20° ± 23.93° in the free exercise and game exercise, respectively. It was found that the RPE difference between the two exercises was not statistically significant. Besides, the results of alpha and SMR waves (which are concentration related EEG signals) were more favorable for the game exercise than in the free exercise. In fact, the alpha waves were 7.58% and 8.98% in the free exercise and game exercise, respectively and the SMR waves were 2.51% and 3.06% in the free exercise and game exercise, respectively.

Conclusions:

According to the experimental results, higher exercise capability and concentration were achieved in the game exercise as compared to the free exercise. The observations confirm that the game exercise using VR content could enhance exercise capability and concentration. Thus, the ski exergames are expected to be used effectively by those who, in general, do not like exercise but the game.