Applicability of the Kinect Sensor in the Rehabilitation of Balance Control in the Elderly: A Pilot Study

Abstract

Background: Taking into consideration the inversion of the age pyramid in the coming years and the limitations and diseases that predispose the elderly to episodes of falling, it is necessary to develop resources that can address postural balance in this population. The use of virtual rehabilitation, i.e., rehabilitation using electronic platforms, has been increasing due to the increased treatment adherence observed with these methods. Objectives: This study was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of a rehabilitation program using the Kinect sensor (KS) on the postural balance of the elderly. Methods: This was a non-randomized controlled clinical trial in which 10 elderly subjects and 10 younger adults underwent a 10session rehabilitation protocol lasting 20 minutes per session. Each session involved muscle stretching and motor coordination exercises, as well as use of the KS. The period between the evaluations was five weeks, and the sessions were held three times per week. The initial and final evaluations included the Berg Balance Scale (BBS), the Timed Up and Go (TUG) test and the tandem Romberg test. Results: After treatment with the KS, the elderly required a longer time to perform the TUG test and had lower static balance results in the tandem Romberg test compared to younger adults; however, there were no significant differences between the pre-and posttreatment values for these two tests within either group (P > 0.05). The elderly scored lower on the BBS than the younger adults both before and after treatment (P = 0.0001 and P = 0.0006, respectively). However, the elderly showed a balance gain according to the BBS scores between the pre-and post-treatment evaluations (P = 0.005), which did not occur in the younger adults (P = 0.31). Conclusions:The KS is able to promote improvements in static and dynamic postural balance in the elderly, who reached a condition close to what was observed in young adults. This improvement is evident when evaluating the changes using the BBS.