THE EFFECT OF VIDEO GAME-BASED BALANCE TRAINING ON STATIC BALANCE IN HEALTHY YOUNG ADULTS
Open Access
- Author:
- Zinn, Melissa Kay
- Area of Honors:
- Kinesiology
- Degree:
- Bachelor of Science
- Document Type:
- Thesis
- Thesis Supervisors:
- Sayers John Miller III, Thesis Supervisor
Sayers John Miller III, Thesis Supervisor
Giampietro Luciano Vairo, Faculty Reader
Stephen Jacob Piazza, Thesis Honors Advisor - Keywords:
- balance
Nintendo Wii
virtual training - Abstract:
- THE EFFECTS OF VIDEO GAME-BASED BALANCE TRAINING ON STATIC BALANCE IN HEALTHY YOUNG ADULTS Zinn MK*, Vairo GL*, Miller SJ*, Messina RM*, Sebastianelli WJ†: *Athletic Training Research Laboratory, Department of Kinesiology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA; †Penn State | Hershey Orthopaedics – State College, State College PA Objective: To examine the effects of a four-week training program using the Nintendo Wii Balance Board on static balance in healthy, young participants. It was hypothesized that video game-based training using the Wii Balance Board would improve static balance compared to a control condition. Design and Settings: A pretest-posttest true experiment conducted in a controlled laboratory setting. Subjects: Sixteen (8 men, 8 women) participants were randomly allocated to the Wii Balance Board group (age 19.8 ± 0.8 years, height 1.7 ± 9.1m, mass 68.5 ± 13.4kg, BMI 22.8 ± 3.7kg/m2, Tegner Activity Level = 6.3 ± 1.7). Sixteen (8 men, 8 women) matched participants were assigned to a control group (age 20.2 ± 1.2 years, height 1.7 ± 1.1m, mass 72.7 ± 17.6kg, BMI 24.1 ± 4.8kg/m2, Tegner Activity Level = 6.1 ± 1.1). Participants with lower extremity or spinal injury and neurological impairments were excluded. Measurements: Static balance was assessed with a quiet single-leg stance task using a force plate for four different conditions (dominant leg: eyes open and closed, non-dominant leg: eyes open and closed). The mean of three 10s trials for path length (cm) and average velocity (cm/s) of sway were calculated per condition. One-tail paired t-tests were calculated to identify within group pretest-posttest differences. One tail two-sample t-tests were calculated to identify statistical differences between groups among dependent variables of interest. P ≤ 0.05 indicated statistical significance. Results: The Wii Balance Board group displayed a significant decrease in pretest-posttest path length and average velocity measures for the eyes closed condition per the dominant (pretest path length = 76.7 ± 17.9cm, posttest path length = 68.3 ± 14.2cm, P = 0.048; pretest average velocity = 7.7 ± 1.8cm/s, posttest average velocity = 6.8 ± 1.4cm/s, P = 0.048) and non-dominant (pretest path length = 76.2 ± 10.7cm, posttest path length 69.5 ± 12.7cm, P = 0.005; pretest average velocity = 7.6 ± 1.1cm/s, posttest average velocity = 6.9 ± 1.3cm/s, P = 0.005) leg. No other comparisons were statistically significant (P > 0.05). Conclusion: The results suggest that the balance training protocol using the Nintendo Wii Balance Board was successful in improving participant static balance for the dominant and non-dominant leg under the eyes closed condition. Further research is required to investigate the importance of visual feedback as a component of balance and the efficacy of video-game based training to improve balance. Word Count: 395 *We attest to claiming no financial association or participation with commercial organizations that have a direct financial interest in any matter presented throughout this abstract.