Improving Walking, Muscle Strength, and Balance in the Elderly with an Exergame Using Kinect: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Background: Many issues prevent elderly individuals from exercising in daily life. There is a need for a system that allows elderly individuals to engage in exercise regularly at a low cost. We developed an exergame that uses a Kinect^® sensor (Microsoft Corp., Redmond, WA) and conducted a randomized controlled trial of the effects of using this exergame on muscle strength and balance in healthy elderly individuals. Subjects and Methods: We enrolled 57 healthy elderly individuals and randomly divided them into an intervention group (n=29) and a control group (n=28) using a table of random numbers. All participants underwent gait analyses and were examined using the Berg Balance Scale (BBS), Functional Reach Test (FRT), and the 30-second chair-stand (CS-30) test before the intervention. Participants in the intervention group played the exergame once or twice a week, up to a total of 24 times. The tests were repeated after intervention, and the scores were compared with those obtained before intervention. Results: Our results indicated that walking, muscle strength, and motor function improved in participants in the intervention group. Decreased double standing time (P=0.03), minimum foot clearance (P=0.04), BBS scores (P<0.01), CS-30 scores (P<0.01), and FRT scores (P<0.01) significantly improved in the intervention group compared with values in the control group. Conclusions: The Kinect-based exergame developed in this study was found to be effective in improving walking, muscular strength, and balance in elderly people.