Exploring Nintendo Wii Balance Board as a tool to assess lower limb muscle strength for fall risk screening in elderly women

The aging process and declining muscle strength and function are known to increase the risk of falls in older adults. The Nintendo Wii Balance Board (NWBB) is a cost-effective and easily accessible alternative to traditional dynamometry for measuring lower limb muscle strength. The study objective w...

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Main Authors: Weerasak Tapanya, Noppharath Sangkarit, Patchareeya Amput
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: KeAi Communications Co., Ltd. 2025-01-01
Series:Translational Medicine of Aging
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Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2468501124000178
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author Weerasak Tapanya
Noppharath Sangkarit
Patchareeya Amput
author_facet Weerasak Tapanya
Noppharath Sangkarit
Patchareeya Amput
author_sort Weerasak Tapanya
collection DOAJ
description The aging process and declining muscle strength and function are known to increase the risk of falls in older adults. The Nintendo Wii Balance Board (NWBB) is a cost-effective and easily accessible alternative to traditional dynamometry for measuring lower limb muscle strength. The study objective was to validate the ability of NWBB to assess lower limb muscle strength and screen the risk of falls in older adults. Ninety community-dwelling elderly women, divided into falling risk and non-falling groups, underwent lower limb muscle strength measurements using NWBB. Moreover, the power index of the sit-to-stand test (PSTS) was calculated from the time to completed Five Times Sit-to-Stand Test (FTSST) (TSTS). The correlation between each variable was assessed. The cut-off score, sensitivity, and specificity for the NWBB's measurement of lower limb muscular strength was determined using the receiver operating curve (ROC). The falling-risk elderly women showed significantly higher TSTS and significantly lower PSTS and leg muscle strength measured by NWBB than the non-falling risk group (p-value <0.01). A strong negative correlation was observed between TSTS and lower limb muscle strength measured by NWBB (r = - 0.747, p <0.001). The appropriate cut-off score was >79.83 kg to identify non-falling risk older adults with the best sensitivity (90.38 %) and specificity (86.84 %). In conclusion, the NWBB has demonstrated concurrent validity with established measures of lower limb muscle strength, making it a viable option for screening the risk of falls in elderly women populations.
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spelling doaj-art-06b4879279cd42ef83d03e50a7d1252e2025-08-20T02:49:55ZengKeAi Communications Co., Ltd.Translational Medicine of Aging2468-50112025-01-0191810.1016/j.tma.2024.12.002Exploring Nintendo Wii Balance Board as a tool to assess lower limb muscle strength for fall risk screening in elderly womenWeerasak Tapanya0Noppharath Sangkarit1Patchareeya Amput2Corresponding author. Department of Physical Therapy, School of Allied Health Sciences, University of Phayao, 19/2 Maeka Subdistrict, Muang District, Phayao, 56000, Thailand.; Department of Physical Therapy, School of Allied Health Sciences, University of Phayao, Phayao, 56000, ThailandDepartment of Physical Therapy, School of Allied Health Sciences, University of Phayao, Phayao, 56000, ThailandDepartment of Physical Therapy, School of Allied Health Sciences, University of Phayao, Phayao, 56000, ThailandThe aging process and declining muscle strength and function are known to increase the risk of falls in older adults. The Nintendo Wii Balance Board (NWBB) is a cost-effective and easily accessible alternative to traditional dynamometry for measuring lower limb muscle strength. The study objective was to validate the ability of NWBB to assess lower limb muscle strength and screen the risk of falls in older adults. Ninety community-dwelling elderly women, divided into falling risk and non-falling groups, underwent lower limb muscle strength measurements using NWBB. Moreover, the power index of the sit-to-stand test (PSTS) was calculated from the time to completed Five Times Sit-to-Stand Test (FTSST) (TSTS). The correlation between each variable was assessed. The cut-off score, sensitivity, and specificity for the NWBB's measurement of lower limb muscular strength was determined using the receiver operating curve (ROC). The falling-risk elderly women showed significantly higher TSTS and significantly lower PSTS and leg muscle strength measured by NWBB than the non-falling risk group (p-value <0.01). A strong negative correlation was observed between TSTS and lower limb muscle strength measured by NWBB (r = - 0.747, p <0.001). The appropriate cut-off score was >79.83 kg to identify non-falling risk older adults with the best sensitivity (90.38 %) and specificity (86.84 %). In conclusion, the NWBB has demonstrated concurrent validity with established measures of lower limb muscle strength, making it a viable option for screening the risk of falls in elderly women populations.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2468501124000178AgingMuscle strengthNintendo Wii balance boardFalls riskElderly women
spellingShingle Weerasak Tapanya
Noppharath Sangkarit
Patchareeya Amput
Exploring Nintendo Wii Balance Board as a tool to assess lower limb muscle strength for fall risk screening in elderly women
Translational Medicine of Aging
Aging
Muscle strength
Nintendo Wii balance board
Falls risk
Elderly women
title Exploring Nintendo Wii Balance Board as a tool to assess lower limb muscle strength for fall risk screening in elderly women
title_full Exploring Nintendo Wii Balance Board as a tool to assess lower limb muscle strength for fall risk screening in elderly women
title_fullStr Exploring Nintendo Wii Balance Board as a tool to assess lower limb muscle strength for fall risk screening in elderly women
title_full_unstemmed Exploring Nintendo Wii Balance Board as a tool to assess lower limb muscle strength for fall risk screening in elderly women
title_short Exploring Nintendo Wii Balance Board as a tool to assess lower limb muscle strength for fall risk screening in elderly women
title_sort exploring nintendo wii balance board as a tool to assess lower limb muscle strength for fall risk screening in elderly women
topic Aging
Muscle strength
Nintendo Wii balance board
Falls risk
Elderly women
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2468501124000178
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