Accepted for/Published in: Journal of Medical Internet Research
Date Submitted: Jan 29, 2024
Open Peer Review Period: Jan 26, 2024 - Mar 22, 2024
Date Accepted: Aug 12, 2024
(closed for review but you can still tweet)
Gaming-Based Tele-Exercise Program to Improve Physical Function in Frail Older Adults: A Pilot study
ABSTRACT
Background:
Frailty leads to reduced physical activity which can cause social isolation. Both are related to increased risk of Alzheimer’s disease–related dementia. We have developed and piloted the design, usability, safety, and feasibility of a gaming-based cognitive-motor (CogXergaming) tele-exercise protocol in pre-frail older adults (OA).
Objective:
This randomized control trial tested preliminary effectiveness of the CogXergaming telehealth protocol for improving physical function.
Methods:
Community-dwelling, pre-frail OA were randomly assigned to CogXergaming (n=13) or a control group (n=14). The CogXergaming group received supervised tele-exercises in a gaming format for 6 weeks (3 sessions/week) comprising 18 sessions lasting 90 minutes each. Control group participants participated in A Matter of Balance (MOB), an 8-week, once-a-week structured 90-minute tele-session that has been shown, to reduce the fear of falling and increase physical activity. The pre-/post online assessment included dynamic balance control (Four Square Step Test [FSST]), falls efficacy (Activities-Specific Balance Confidence [ABC] scale), gait function (Tinetti Performance Oriented Mobility Assessment [POMA]), muscle strength (30-second chair stand test [30-CST]), and endurance (2-minute step in-place test).
Results:
We saw a significant time x group interaction for all the physical function measures (p<0.05) except endurance, with a significant improvement in these measures for the CogXergaming group (p<0.05) post training, compared to no change observed in the MOB group.
Conclusions:
These findings suggest that game-based tele-exercise protocols can be beneficial in improving physical function among community-dwelling, pre-frail OA. Clinical Trial: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04534686
Citation
Request queued. Please wait while the file is being generated. It may take some time.
Copyright
© The authors. All rights reserved. This is a privileged document currently under peer-review/community review (or an accepted/rejected manuscript). Authors have provided JMIR Publications with an exclusive license to publish this preprint on it's website for review and ahead-of-print citation purposes only. While the final peer-reviewed paper may be licensed under a cc-by license on publication, at this stage authors and publisher expressively prohibit redistribution of this draft paper other than for review purposes.