THE EFFECT OF BALANCE EXERCISES BASED ON ACTIVE VIDEO GAMES ON STATIC AND DYNAMIC BALANCE OF SEDENTARY FEMALE STUDENTS

Abstract

Aim. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of balance exercises using active video games on static and dynamic balance of sedentary female students. Materials and Methods. In this semi-experimental study with a pre-test--post-test design, 24 sedentary female students in Izeh city, aged 18–29, were purposefully selected. After performing the pre-test, they were randomly divided into two equal groups of balance exercises based on active video games (Xbox) and the group of traditional balance exercises (TE). The duration of the training was four weeks, two sessions per week of twenty minutes (totally eight sessions). The intervention of the Xbox group was performed by the Kinect 360 device, and the TE group performed traditional balance training. Data analysis was performed at the level of p ≤ 0.05. Results. The within-group results showed both of Xbox group and TE improved static and dynamic balance. The between-group results showed that there was no significant difference in static balance between the two groups, but there was a significant difference in dynamic balance between the two groups and this significance was in favor of the Xbox group. Conclusions: According to the results of the present study, it seems that virtual reality exercises can be used as a new and attractive training method as an effective intervention in improving balance, especially dynamic balance.