[HN Gopher] Dance mat-style game helps stop older people falling
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       Dance mat-style game helps stop older people falling
        
       Author : zeristor
       Score  : 32 points
       Date   : 2024-02-03 19:31 UTC (3 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.newscientist.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.newscientist.com)
        
       | vyrotek wrote:
       | https://archive.is/scpfB
        
       | leereeves wrote:
       | The paper:
       | 
       | https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-023-02739-0
       | 
       | And a non-paywalled article from the university:
       | 
       | https://newsroom.unsw.edu.au/news/health/gamified-home-exerc...
       | 
       | The result:
       | 
       | > The rate of falls reported monthly over 12 months--the primary
       | outcome of the trial--was significantly reduced in the exergame
       | training group compared with the control group (incidence rate
       | ratio = 0.74, 95% confidence interval = 0.56-0.98)
        
       | agumonkey wrote:
       | Aside from that, having health issues even if younger, I was
       | surprised how valuable deadlift (with 5 to 10kg kettle bells) and
       | squats were important for your body. The ability to go down
       | softly without efforts or joint pain is such a relief.
        
         | maccard wrote:
         | Pretty much every study ever has concluded that some exercise
         | >>>>> no exercise, and also that moderate exercise >>>>> some
         | exercise.
         | 
         | Total anecdote, but aside from injuries and a brief period of
         | wildly overtraining for university rowing, I have _never_, in
         | my life thought after exercising "I feel worse than I did
         | before starting". It's basically the magic pill.
        
           | agumonkey wrote:
           | yeah sure, physical exercise is vital, and even a few minutes
           | everyday is a great boost for a lot of things in you
           | 
           | but I used to run / bike, and this didn't address the same
           | movement as deep squat / dead lift affect
        
             | TomK32 wrote:
             | Running plus cycling is quite a feat already, if you do it
             | serious. I'm a cyclist and 15 months into running I still
             | dislike it but also know it's a good thing for me.
        
               | agumonkey wrote:
               | I was a runner first, but years made my knee joints
               | brittle, and biking is amazing to avoid pain there. And
               | talking about knee joints, single leg squats are magic to
               | restore them a bit. I was quite surprised.
        
             | maccard wrote:
             | I think that further reinforces the point - There's an
             | enormous boost from doing anything at all. In most things,
             | there's a pretty significant falloff in terms of the reward
             | of what you're doing but with exercise, you get that for
             | pretty much every step along the way. For you it's
             | deadlifts, for me most recently it was bench presses
             | relieving tension in my chest and upper shoulders and neck
             | which was giving me headaches. I'm sure I'd get a similar
             | return if I focused on deep squats or deadlifts for a
             | little bit.
        
       | techwizrd wrote:
       | I would be very interested to see how this compares across
       | demographics (think NHANES). I wonder if it could be turned into
       | a check where clinicians measure baseline performance and use it
       | to track reduction in performance over time. If it works, it
       | could be an inexpensive way to identify individuals at risk of a
       | fall before their motor control degrades enough to be at high
       | risk.
        
         | nonrandomstring wrote:
         | An occupational therapist test I've seen is to lift one foot
         | off the floor slightly and remain balanced with eyes closed.
         | Time is the measure and anything over 10 seconds is "healthy".
        
       | JKCalhoun wrote:
       | Reminds me, I miss StepMania.
       | 
       | Off to build a new dance pad....
        
       | TomK32 wrote:
       | Gamifying fitness works fine, peer pressure does too. The gym I
       | (41, male) go has quite a lot of pensioners due to the wide range
       | of courses they offer. It's quite normal there to have a yoga
       | course with people ranging ages from 20 to 70+.
        
       | imhoguy wrote:
       | This reminded me my grandparents who used to go to dance parties
       | up to their 80s. They didn't have any falls I recall until they
       | got onto deathbed.
        
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       (page generated 2024-02-03 23:01 UTC)