Medical conditions, such as a stroke, heart attack, arthritis and even serious illnesses, injuries and surgery, often lead a slow recovery to optimal health. One of the most important factors to recovery is participation in rehabilitative services designed to aid in one’s healing process. Throughout the recovery process of a life changing event, challenges in achieving or regaining normal abilities are hindered by a decrease in optimism and resilience to temporary disabilities. This is particularly correlated to individuals who lack exercise self-efficacy. However, one of the latest advancements in the video game industry is making into the world of health and fitness. Becoming one of the biggest game changers in rehabilitative health care technology, directly influencing an individual’s ability to recovery to their fullest potential as efficiently as possible.
Rehabilitation is a step-by-step process that assists a person during their recovery from various medical conditions, as well as, recovery from a serious injury, illness or surgery, by restoring and regaining their physical mobility and/or strength through treatment aimed at achieving the maximal gains of function, as effectively as possible. After a serious injury, illness, surgery or even a medical condition, a person may recover slowly and may need therapeutic treatments to regain strength, relearn skills and/or find a new way of doing things throughout their recovery process, with the assistance from a rehabilitative program. The need for rehabilitative services to regain the ability to function normally crosses all age groups and treatment options. The process of rehabilitation can be a different experience, offering a variety of results for each person, depending on the type of therapy prescribed for them and their engagement level with that treatment. Whether the rehabilitative treatment is aimed to stabilize a condition, or the goal is to establish working towards regaining function(s) and/or independence. Ultimately, the motivation level for sustaining treatment is a contributing factor to the engagement level towards the exercise-based activities aimed to maintain and improve an individual’s function(s). Thus, impacting the level of improvement of a person’s fullest potential as efficiently as possible through the rehabilitative process.
Rehabilitation often is available through physical therapy, occupational therapy and/or the targeted treatment(s) of pain or inflammation. Often times, recovery requires intensive rehabilitative treatment that is time consuming, challenging, costly and requires consistency. Regardless of which goal a person is working towards; the completion of their rehabilitation program directly impacts a person’s ability to recover as fully as possible. Ultimately, impacting the rest of their lives as well. Rehabilitation experts strongly believe that the most important element in any rehabilitation program is through well-focused repetitively practice that is rewarding. However, a person’s exercise self-efficacy and motivation for sustaining treatment can be linked to hindering nonadherence to their treatment program. Which, is a major obstacle in achieving improvement from accomplishing their goals towards maximal recovery of one’s ability to function and essentially results in the effectiveness of their rehabilitative treatment program.
Physical therapy is a popular rehabilitative goal-oriented treatment ¬option for multiple disorders and musculoskeletal issues that are aimed to improve joint and muscle function; including but, not limited to, improving a person’s range of motion and strength. In physical therapy, the goal is to contribute in the healing process through various techniques. Techniques that focus on movements through traditional exercises to aid in an individuals’ mitigation through various aspects of recovery. Aspects, including but, not limited to, helping with pain relief, assisting¬ in recuperating from and strengthening muscles, preventing further and future injuries, and to resuming daily activities by recovering individuals to their fullest potential. Individuals reported that these traditional wellness-improving exercises, that incorporate uncomfortable stretching techniques, are uninteresting. Ultimately, creating a lack of motivation in sustaining consistent treatment. These treatment programs, which require motivation for engagement, also tend to be rigorous, lengthy, and expensive. Conclusively, an entirely unappealing experience for individuals’ who are in need of recovery and/or improvement throughout their healing process after a life changing event.
For example, individuals who require improvement of joint function benefit with physical therapy treatments that targets an individual’s range of motion. There are established parameters that medical professionals consider to be normal for various joints of the body; which are measured through a persons’ ability to move their joints in a predetermined flexion and extension range. Naturally, one’s range of motion declines with age. However, limited range of motion can occur prematurely with various medical conditions, as well as, a result of a serious injury, illness or surgery. Reduction in a normal range of motion can impair function and tends to cause pain to an individual. Certain rehabilitative exercises that are aimed to stretch stiff joints may be helpful for improving and maintaining flexibility in those joints. These traditionally targeted exercises not only aid in nursing one’s range of motion closer to a normal flexion and extension parameter but, also aids in diminishing the possibility of further limiting one’s range of motion. Also, by the same token, aids in minimizing an individuals’ risk of losing their mobility as a result of stiff joints. Which, is ultimately and consequently, predisposing the individual to larger preventable physical medical issues, such as pressure ulcers, as a result of their immobility.
Targeted rehabilitative exercises in physical therapy can also be aimed to improve muscle strength through resistive exercises. Like range of motion, medical professionals also have predetermined parameters to diagnose normal muscle strength function based the normal average strength of a persons’ physical characteristics; such as their age, sex, and/or size. Decreased or weakened muscle function can result from debilitation, prolonged bed rest or immobilization from a serious injury, illness, surgery or even a medical condition. Thus, causing an individual pain and limiting one’s functional mobility. A person’s below normal muscle strength can be treated by various targeted conditioning exercises that are intended to improve muscle strength. Due to these conditional states, improving muscle strength is achieved through resistive exercises aimed to reestablish hemodynamic balance, increase cardiorespiratory capacity and endurance, and maintain range of motion and muscle strength.
Different from physical therapy, occupational therapy is a treatment program that focuses on self-care abilities through meaningful everyday activities and on the improvement of the fine motor coordination skills of the muscles and joints with task-oriented exercises. These treatments are designed to develop, recover, and/or maintain daily skills by improving basic motor functions. Often times, the goal of these task-oriented exercises are to help people walk again and to enable them to do the essential daily activities of everyday life. These exercises specifically target more than one joint and muscle simultaneously through repetitive movement. Occupational therapy helps people to regain function to have independent and productive lives by overcoming personal challenges and how to compensate for any disabilities.
Undeniably, rehabilitative treatment programs are beneficial to an individuals’ physical well-being. These programs are not only preventative measures for further and future injuries, but also contribute positively to one’s quality of life after a life changing event. Studies show that increased time in therapy and consistency are the primary predictors for increased recovery. In order for rehabilitative treatment programs to be productive and effective, it is crucial for an individual to regularly adhere to their treatment schedule and complete their rehabilitation program as it was designed. Regardless of which goal a person is working towards, a person’s nonadherence with their treatment program is a significant problem and is a major obstacle in achieving their rehabilitative goals towards improvement and a recovery to their fullest potential. Although intensive treatment can be time consuming, challenging, and costly; a person’s motivation and engagement in sustaining treatment are also major contributing factors to nonadherent treatment behavior. An individuals’ self-efficacy may be the biggest factor to blame.
Clinicians identify that exercise self-efficacy is a factor in predicting the qualitative and quantitative amount of physical activity that impacts rehabilitation outcomes. Self-efficacy tends to be related to an internal Health Locus of Control, which is an individual’s belief in their own ability to learn or perform a physical activity to achieve goals. Which, ultimately, is a critical aspect in motivating an individual to consistently adhere to their prescribed rehabilitative treatment.
A major concern in rehabilitation is that individuals who lack exercise self-efficacy are not regularly or actively engaging enough to meet the sufficient dosage of movements during their traditionally therapeutic exercise-based treatments to result in an improved state. An individuals’ exercise self-efficacy can be positively influenced by performance-based accomplishments which aid in decreasing an individual’s belief that they cannot achieve goals and furthermore, contribute to increasing an individuals’ belief in their abilities to achieve and accomplish goals through their physical accomplishments. The higher an individuals’ perceived efficacy, the more challenges an individual is willing and committed to undertake, the more optimistic one is in their ability to achieve success, and the more resilient they are in facing set-backs. Therefore, positive exercise self-efficacy influences greater engagement levels in the therapeutic exercises of rehabilitative treatment programs. Ultimately, resulting in a maximally improved potential state of physical well-being, as effectively as possible.
Remarkably, exergaming is proving to be an effective supplement to combating a lack of motivation towards engagement in conventional physical therapy exercises. The video game industry is successful in engaging users for long periods of time. In general, video games are effective in motivating and engaging people, directly as a result of the key factors of the games’ design. Video games increase motivational factors of its users, to continue game play in offering a variety of different quantifiable outcomes of that play. The success of a video game is largely defined by the number of gamers that are willing to invest time in playing that game. In order for a video game to be commercially successful, it is crucial that users have a desire to play. The desire for continuous play directly correlates to the negotiable outcomes that a video game can offer. While positive outcomes are usually harder to achieve, players become emotionally attached to influencing the outcome of the game, due to the amount of effort they exhort in attempt to achieve winning results. Increasing interest and motivation to play, while losing track of real-life time during their consumption.
Playing video games has been shown to have many positive behavioral and phycological effects that are beneficial in a rehabilitation setting. Despite the negative connotation of the sedentary state of video game users, one of the latest advancements in the video game industry is making its way into the world of health and fitness. The creation of interactive video games incorporates actual human movements, by engaging players in physical activity that influence actions occurring in an augmented virtual reality. Disconnecting the uninteresting correlation to traditional repetitious exercise-based rehabilitative treatment options, exergaming is becoming one of the biggest entertaining game changers in healthcare technology. Augmented virtual reality is used by health care professionals as therapeutic tool, in physical therapy treatments, creating a revolutionized enjoyable digital rehabilitative treatment environment and experience influencing motivational game play aimed to aid in achieving goals, both efficiently and faster than previous traditional environmental approaches.
Evidence supports that therapeutic game play increases an individuals’ desire towards motivation and engagement in physical therapy. Which ultimately results in an increase in the amount of time that individuals are willing to spend in relation to sustaining treatment. Studies have shown that individuals, who are fueled by their emotional attachment to achieving a positive outcome using this immersive virtual reality as a therapy tool, reported less pain during treatment due to the distractive nature of the technology that translates movement into game play. The innovative combination of exergaming activities of video game play through augmented virtual reality with physical therapy like treatment, is a way to disguise tedious exercises, that specifically target more than one joint and muscle simultaneously through repetitive movement, and their challenges to increase an individuals’ exercise self-efficacy. Thus, resulting in improvements in joint and muscle function through play. Individuals participating in augmented physical therapy seem to be benefiting the most from this innovative technology. Augmented virtual reality is providing an interesting environment to do motivate individuals to engage in treatment by encouraging them to physically exert themselves to meet the sufficient dosage of movements required for recovery and maximal improvement. Consequently, contributing to creating consistent behavior tendencies towards rehabilitative-related movements and adherence to their treatment programs.
For example, intensive rehabilitation is extremely beneficial and crucial to strokes survivors to not only to relearn skills that are lost when part of their brain was damaged but also, teaches survivors new ways of performing tasks to compensate for any disabilities through the therapeutic movements of both physical and/or occupational therapy. The degree of disability that can occur is dependent upon the severity and the area of the brain that is damaged; including but, not limited to, paralysis or problems controlling movement and a variety of chronic pain syndromes. The first steps of ongoing stroke rehabilitation involve promoting independent movement after a person’s overall condition has been stabilized. Many individuals are paralyzed or seriously weakened as a result of a stroke. To further complicate the long road to recovery, survivors can also suffer from depression and decreased motivation. A survivor’s ability to regain function is dependent on their engagement in a range of motion exercises are encouraged to strengthen their stroke-impaired limbs.
A study, conducted by the Journal of Neurologic Physical Therapy, found that interactive video gaming can be successfully incorporated into a structured rehabilitative program to achieve increased engagement in therapeutic movement, maximizing an individuals’ ability to recover to their fullest potential. The study examined stroke survivors who combined consistent rehabilitative treatment, through game play with physical gestures, with a wireless controller, on Nintendo’s Wii motion-sensing gaming console; Wii-Hab. This innovative combination led to a significant improvement in regaining motor functions through consistent regular treatment as efficiently as possible. The study found that participants who played Wii had significantly improved motor functions, a desire to continue rehabilitative therapy and even recommended the treatment to others due to increased enjoyment. In addition, participants of the study were interested in obtaining a copy of the game for personal use; further opening up the likelihood of engagement is additional physical activity. Thus, conclusively demonstrating that these individuals exemplified positive exercise self-efficacy and enjoyed the challenge the video games presented by welcoming the change towards their physical routines. These results were found in comparison to individuals in a traditional recreational therapy group, without an immersive game playing environment.
Despite a clear positive correlation of exercise self-efficacy and therapeutic game play resulting in maximal rehabilitative outcomes, the cost of rehabilitation is another factor contributing in nonadherent treatment behavior. Especially exemplified by the stroke surviving senior citizens living a low-income lifestyle. In addition to suffering complications from a common brain-damaging medical condition, further complications from the health care systems’ inability to sufficiently provide financial support to stroke survivors to cover the cost of their intensive rehabilitation treatment for a sufficient duration. Hinders their ability to access rehabilitative services in order to from them to achieve their highest level of function as effectively as possible. Fortunately, the video game industry is also transforming the rehabilitation industry by simultaneously resolving large monetary obstacles that prevent sustainable and obtainable treatment by producing accessible and affordable treatment options. The popularity of video gaming systems today, makes the possibility of rehabilitative treatment, from the comfort of your own home, a cost-efficient option.
Without a doubt, exergaming has proven to be an effective supplement to combating tribulations for obtaining rehabilitative treatment that is viewed as time consuming, challenging, costly. The innovative collaborative benefits of therapeutic game play and rehabilitative services prove an undeniable connection in the increase of maximal improvement of function for those seeking physical and occupational therapy exercises to aid in the recovery process. This collaboration is positively contributing to creating consistent behavior tendencies towards rehabilitative-related movements and an individuals’ adherence to the effectiveness of their treatment programs. A challenge that is apparent in hindering an individuals’ recovery process that can be difficult to overcome through conventionally traditional rehabilitative services alone. The biggest game changing technology in healthcare, is a critical component resulting in increasing a person’s adherence to their prescribed treatment and the ability to recovery to their fullest potential as efficiently as possible.