PC-based rehabilitation tool for the elderly.
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.
Tamura
Toshiyo
T
Department of Biomedical Engineering, Chiba University, Graduate School of Engineering, Chiba, Japan. tamuat@faculty.chiba-u.jp
Sekine
Masaki
M
Shinchi
Tomokazu
T
Yuji
Tadahiko
T
Higashi
Yuji
Y
Fujimoto
Toshiro
T
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