Playing Computer Games Can Help People with Parkinson's
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Computer games, albeit very specialized ones, can help Parkinson’s patients improve their walking and balance, researchers found.
Twenty people with moderate Parkinson’s – a brain disorder that causes shaking and difficulty walking – played physical-therapy related games for 12 weeks.
At the conclusion of the study showing a “positive result” 65 percent of game players showed longer stride length, 55 percent increased gait velocity, and 55 percent reported improved balance confidence.
The games used technology similar to that found in the Wii and Kinect devices. The gamers used a custom sensor suit with nine tracking sensors.
Apparently, some couldn’t get enough.
“Because this was a highly structured research study, we actually had to ask them to play less than they wanted,” said Bone Hone, the principal investigator and creative director of Red Hill Studios said.
The pilot study was led by researchers at the University of California school of Nursing and Red Hill, which develops physical therapy games and simulations.
The specialized games “encourage scientifically tested specific physical movements” to help people with functional impairments and diseases.
The movements focused movements previously show to benefit and stave off the physical declines Parkinson’s.
The game gives points for moving in a certain way and includes various levels of difficulty. Gamers each found their own gaming “sweet spot” where the physical challenge was not too hard, nor too easy, Hone said.
Looking ahead, researchers said they want to conduct a longer term clinical trial with more subjects to confirm the initial findings.