Award Date

8-1-2013

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Kinesiology and Nutrition Sciences

First Committee Member

Janet S. Dufek

Second Committee Member

Richard D. Tandy

Third Committee Member

Antonio S. Santo

Number of Pages

73

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the use of an X Box 360 KinectTM game as a modality for improving balance. Specifically, this study explores the use of the Target Kick mini game on Kinect SportsTM as a tool for VR rehabilitation. Subjects (N=18, age 23.3 ±2.87 yrs, mass 71.83 ±15.25 kg, height 168.4 ±7.79 cm) with no lower extremity injury were randomly placed into three groups (X Box n = 6, Traditional n = 6, and Control n = 6). The X Box (XBOX) group performed ten minutes of balance training by playing an X Box game for 18 sessions over six weeks. The Traditional (TRAD) group preformed 2 balance exercises for the same duration as the X Box group. Subjects were tested on the Bertec Balance platform (Model BP5050) while performing a single leg stance for 15 sec (100 Hz) before and after the 6 weeks of intervention. Total excursion (TE) of center of pressure (COP) in the medial-lateral (M-L) and anterior-posterior (A-P) planes and root mean square velocity (RMS vel) of COP in the M-L and A-P planes were extrapolated from COP data. A 3 (treatment group) x 2 (time) mixed model analysis of variance with post hoc Tukey follow-up test and paired t-test as appropriate (α = 0.05) was used to determine significant changes. Also game scores in the XBOX group were recorded to compare balance performance with game performance. Pearson's r was used to determine a correlation between game score and balance. It was determined that there were differences for TE in the M-L plane (F(2,15) = 5.554 p = .016), TE in the A-P plane (F(2,15) = 5.565 p = .016) for time and a difference in RMS vel. A-P (F(2,15) = 3.740 p = .048) for groups. Specifically, TE M-L saw a decrease from pretest to post test for the TRAD group (t(5) = 5.263 p = .003); TE A-P saw a decrease from pretest to posttest for the TRAD (t(5) = 3.044 p = .029) and CON (t(5) = 3.335 p = .021) groups; and RMS vel. A-P was significantly lower at posttest between XBOX and TRAD groups (F(2,15) = 5.340 p = .018). Although the TRAD group did decrease from pretest to posttest in TE M-L and TE A-P, the results from this study are not strong enough to determine that the treatment was effective. No correlation was found between game scores and COP (pretest TE M-L r = .358 p = .486, TE A-P r = .785 p = .064, posttest TE M-L r = .305 p = .557, TE A-P r = .684 p = .134).

Keywords

Equilibrium (Physiology); Exergaming; Kinect (Programmable controller); Motor ability; Neuromuscular control; Physical therapy; Proprioception; Rehab; Rehabilitation; XBox

Disciplines

Kinesiology | Occupational Therapy | Physical Therapy | Physiotherapy

File Format

pdf

Degree Grantor

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Language

English

Rights

IN COPYRIGHT. For more information about this rights statement, please visit http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

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