Synergistic Effects of Therapeutic Exercise in a Virtual Environment on Physical and Cognitive Functions of the Elderly

本研究探讨虚拟环境中治疗性运动(虚拟现实(VR)运动)对老年人身体和认知功能的协同效应。首先，健康大学生对VR运动的安全性和所选VR运动图像的有效性进行了测试。老年保健设施的实际使用者随后进行为期三个月的VR运动作为娱乐(VR运动组)。VR运动组小腿肌群与体重的平均比值略有增加(1.1%)。尽管虚拟现实运动组的修订长谷川痴呆量表(HDS-R)有改善的趋势，从开始虚拟现实运动时的18.3分提高到完成虚拟现实运动时的20.7分，但虚拟现实运动组与对照组之间的HDS-R差异无统计学意义。未来的研究需要设定明确的视觉目标和简单的规则，并开发新的视觉图像。

This study investigated the synergistic effects of therapeutic exercise in a virtual environment (virtual reality (VR) sports) on the physical and cognitive functions of the elderly. First, healthy university students tested the safety of the VR sports and the effectiveness of the chosen VR sports images. Actual users of geriatric health care facilities then performed the VR sports for three months as recreation (VR sports group). The average ratio of lower extremity muscle mass to body weight slightly increased (by 1.1%) in the VR sports group. Although the Revised Hasegawa's Dementia Scale (HDS-R) tended to improve in the VR sports group, from 18.3 at the initiation of the VR sports to 20.7 at the completion, no significant difference was observed in HDS-R between the VR sports and control groups. Future research will require setting a clear visual target and simple rules, and development of new visual images.