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About the project
Regular exercise can help seniors maintain their mobility and independence and decrease their risk of injury.
Despite the importance of exercising, seniors often experience challenges to completing regular exercise, including transportation, cost, weather conditions, low motivation, and fear for their safety.
This project used virtual reality (VR) to help seniors safely, enjoyably, and effectively participate in an exercise program. The project team assessed whether using VR would improve strength, balance and gait, and general overall health. These improvements were expected to lead to fewer falls, emergency room (ER) visits, and hospital stays.
Two separate groups of seniors were recruited – those living in their own home and those living in a longterm care residence. Of the 47 seniors who participated in the project, 24 were given 20-30 minutes of VR exercises 3-5 times per week for 8 weeks (intervention group) and 23 were instead instructed to compete their usual exercises for 8 weeks (control group).
Conclusions and lessons learned
- VR exercise may be a safe way to increase the uptake of exercise for seniors who can sit or stand for at least 20 minutes, have no health conditions that preclude mild to moderate exercise, and have someone available to supervise their sessions. However, further research is needed to assess the specific impacts of VR exercise on seniors’ balance, mobility, gait, and quality of life.
- Technology is often presented as a challenge for seniors to learn to navigate. However, seniors’ ability to engage with technology should not be underestimated. Qualitative data indicated that seniors familiarized themselves with and enjoyed using the VR technology during the project.
- Healthcare staff found it challenging to supervise VR exercise in long-term care settings due to high existing workload demands and staff turnover (partly due to the COVID-19 pandemic). Adaptations in the project design (e.g., the addition of a volunteer base to supervise VR exercise sessions) helped address this barrier.
Recommendations
- Market the use of technology to seniors.
- Consider enlisting the help of family members and/or volunteers to supervise exercise interventions.
- Seniors living in their own homes and in long-term care residences should consider VR exercise as a safe way to increase their active minutes.
To learn more read the complete project findings (PDF 160 KB)