title: PC-based rehabilitation tool for the elderly.
abstract: The elderly can sometimes find rehabilitation training to be very boring, but if the participants are motivated or having fun, they will continue to exercise. Prevention is the most important issue for health care insurance in Japan, and since suitable training will improve the quality of life, we developed personal computer (PC)-based rehabilitation tools to help the elderly maintain balance and muscle strength. After using the balance-training device, the subjects were able to keep better balance, and the muscle-training device resulted in an energy expenditure of around 2 METs fewer than walking. The results indicate that PC-based rehabilitation tools are effective for maintaining physical exercise.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering, Chiba University, Graduate School of Engineering, Chiba, Japan. tamuat@faculty.chiba-u.jp
authors.forename: Toshiyo
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Tamura
authors.forename: Masaki
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sekine
authors.forename: Tomokazu
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Shinchi
authors.forename: Tadahiko
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yuji
authors.forename: Yuji
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Higashi
authors.forename: Toshiro
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Fujimoto
mesh_terms: D000203:Activities of Daily Living; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003201:Computers; D004867:Equipment Design; D015444:Exercise; D005081:Exercise Therapy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008838:Microcomputers; D053580:Muscle Strength; D004856:Postural Balance; D012046:Rehabilitation / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D012656:Self-Help Devices; D016138:Walking