Posted by John Ferrara on June 7, 2012
Earlier this year, a study published in the journal Pediatrics found that five games that are marketed with the promise of increasing players' physical fitness produced no actual difference in activity. 78 kids between 9 and 12 were given Wii consoles, and then one group was given a couple of exergames while a control group was given "inactive" games like Madden and Mario Kart. The kids wore devices to measure their physical activity, and they kept logs of when they played.
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Showing posts with label children. Show all posts
Showing posts with label children. Show all posts
Sunday, 24 June 2012
Friday, 10 June 2011
UWI study finds Nintendo games effective in treating cerebral palsy
BY NADINE WILSON Observer staff reporter wilsonn@jamaicaobserver.com
Thursday, June 09, 2011
A study conducted by the School of Physical Therapy (SPT) at the University of West Indies, Mona, has found that some video games are effective in the treatment of children living with cerebral palsy and also offer promise for patients suffering from strokes and spinal cord injuries.
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The study, which is being edited for publication in the British Physiotherapy Journal, was carried out by a group of researchers from the university in May 2009. The researchers analysed the motor function scores of six children suffering from cerebral palsy after they had played the Nintendo Wii twice weekly for six weeks. The students, ages six to 12 years, participated in boxing, baseball and tennis games using the Wii console, which uses a computer simulated environment.
Dr Sharmella Roopchand-Martin, who specialises in nuero-rehabilitation at SPT, said all the children involved in the study had improvements in their gross motor function scores at the end of the six weeks of training.
Read more here
Thursday, June 09, 2011
A study conducted by the School of Physical Therapy (SPT) at the University of West Indies, Mona, has found that some video games are effective in the treatment of children living with cerebral palsy and also offer promise for patients suffering from strokes and spinal cord injuries.
+/- Click for more/less
The study, which is being edited for publication in the British Physiotherapy Journal, was carried out by a group of researchers from the university in May 2009. The researchers analysed the motor function scores of six children suffering from cerebral palsy after they had played the Nintendo Wii twice weekly for six weeks. The students, ages six to 12 years, participated in boxing, baseball and tennis games using the Wii console, which uses a computer simulated environment.
Dr Sharmella Roopchand-Martin, who specialises in nuero-rehabilitation at SPT, said all the children involved in the study had improvements in their gross motor function scores at the end of the six weeks of training.
Read more here
Wednesday, 8 December 2010
Video games rival phys-ed for fitness
While video games have long been considered the foe of gym teachers, new research released Tuesday by the University of Calgary suggests that games may be as capable of keeping kids fit as traditional physical education classes.
The University of Calgary study tested the effects of a number of popular video games that incorporate jumping and balancing, such as dance games.
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After two years testing the games on Calgary elementary school students, researchers found that active video games improved balance by up to 30 per cent, while conventional physical education that included traditional games, such as badminton, had a negligible effect.
The results, released Tuesday, were on par with a six-week phys-ed program that focused solely on improving agility and balance using dance, gymnastics and obstacle courses.
“We don’t believe what we’re doing is trying to encourage kids to play video games,” said researcher Larry Katz. “We think there is an obesity problem because of sedentary behaviour and what we’re hoping to do is to get kids who are involved with sedentary behaviour to be non-sedentary, to be active.”
Often children fail to become physically active because they don’t develop balance and agility, he said.
For more information click here
The University of Calgary study tested the effects of a number of popular video games that incorporate jumping and balancing, such as dance games.
+/- Click for more/less
After two years testing the games on Calgary elementary school students, researchers found that active video games improved balance by up to 30 per cent, while conventional physical education that included traditional games, such as badminton, had a negligible effect.
The results, released Tuesday, were on par with a six-week phys-ed program that focused solely on improving agility and balance using dance, gymnastics and obstacle courses.
“We don’t believe what we’re doing is trying to encourage kids to play video games,” said researcher Larry Katz. “We think there is an obesity problem because of sedentary behaviour and what we’re hoping to do is to get kids who are involved with sedentary behaviour to be non-sedentary, to be active.”
Often children fail to become physically active because they don’t develop balance and agility, he said.
For more information click here
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To be certain, the study was performed by a very accomplished group of researchers. The lead author, Tom Baranowski of Baylor College, is one of the most widely published researchers of health games. And this was a very well-designed study, printed in the foremost journal on children's health. Nevertheless, the study should not be read to mean that games can't affect physical activity and can't have a positive impact on public health. That's because it didn't account for the most influential factor in a health game's impact -- its design.
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