Improving balance, and the Wii fit

[Meadmaker]

This isn't a usual sort of question for the science and medicine forum, but there didn't seem to be a better place for it.

My family owns a Wii Fit. Lately, I've taken to playing some of the balance games. My scores are improving, as one might expect, with practice. However, I wonder if this improvement is truly accompanied by an actual improvement in any other measurable skill. In other words, am I truly improving my balance by moving my balance bubble down the river, or am I simply getting better at playing the balance bubble game?

I did a fair amount of google searching and found surprisingly little commentary on the question. I expected to find a fair amount of discussion, along with a few legitimate expert opinions, either saying that the Wii Fit games can improve performance, or slamming it as a sham. I suspect that my google-fu powers have simply failed me in this instance.

So, I decided to post the question here. This community has a really broad base of knowledge, and unlike many internet forums, opinions on this one are at least likely to be more supported than in other cases.

So, my question is whether playing with the Wii Fit actually improves any other aspect of physical performance, or is it just another video game? Is there any evidence that all that time spent trying to hit virtual soccer balls with my head will improve any other aspect of athletic performance, or is it just a way to make middle aged folks feel as if they are getting some sort of exercise for themselves or their children, when in reality it's only marginally better than watching television?

 

[Everett Spair]

I dont really know (dont own a Wii fit) but I would assume by default that you're only getting better at the game itself and not really improving your body very much. On the other hand I would love to see some studies or similar that suggest a real improvment from said games.

 

[bjornart]

This only looks at the energy spent when playing wii games, which is higher than not moving, but not as high as playing actual sports.

http://www.bmj.com/cgi/content/abstract/335/7633/1282

I'd be surprised if one got very different results examining wiifit games. You _are_ actually moving your body and using muscles. Some of those games make me painfully aware of which previously underutilized muscles I've been using. And I'll stop my layman's analysis there...

 

[Soapy Sam]

Well, neurological research has shown that when you think about performing motor actions, you use the same parts of the brain that you use when actually performing the real actions. That seems to suggest you are really learning to control your balance.

Plus, I suppose anything which makes people even think about exercise is a step in the right direction.

 

[Hellbound]

An interesting question, and one I've been interested in as well.

I would suspect there is some benefit, although I would suspect it's not linear with the point system Wii Fit uses to assess you. Balance is all about fine muscle control, and using the smaller muscle of your body for slight adjustments. When balancing on the Wii board, that's the muscles you're using. So, like almost any other aspect of your body, I would suspect it to get better with use.

This is just my first guess, though. I have no actual data, but it doesn't seem unreasonable that this can generate improvement.

 

[Dymanic]

I would consider it the extraordinary claim to say that one could spend any significant amount of time at that activity and not experience some degree of improvement in balance -- that is, over what they would have gotten from, say, sitting on a couch instead.

What we refer to as "balance" is fairly complicated and multi-facetted. Walking, for us bipeds, is actually a series of controlled falls; we tip forward while standing on one foot and then quickly scoot the other foot out in front just in time to avoid doing a face plant. Most of us require a couple of years of practice to learn to do it smoothly. A lot of that is neurological training. Information about one's orientation relative to the center of the Earth (provided by specialized structures in the inner ear) is integrated with information about one's orientation relative to nearby objects (provided by the eyes, and to some extent, the ears), the intrinsic trig and calculus modules provide rough estimates of the best place to plant the foot -- and only then can the muscles receive their instructions.

All of that can be improved with training, though the returns tend to diminish with advancing age, and damage due to disease or injury may limit improvement in the areas affected, but I think it's easy to underestimate the importance of muscle tone in maintaining balance. See how long you can stand on one foot with your eyes closed, paying particular attention to what's happening in the muscles in your foot and lower leg while doing so, and you'll get a better perspective on that. (If you find it too easy, try it with your head tilted way back.)

 

[Psi Baba]

I think it's little of both--improvement at the game, and improvement of balance control. However, I think the improvement in balance can only be taken so far by playing only the balance game itself. I imagine other types of exercises might be necessary to develop the core muscles and ankle muscles enough to take it further. I've noticed too that the different activities tend to complement one another. For example, going through several of the yoga exercises beforehand seems to sharpen your movements when playing the balance games. Notice, though, that it's a lot harder to significantly improve (beyond the first few tries) in the yoga exercises that involve balance, since there it's only about balance and there is no "game" involved.

As for whether it's only marginally better than watching television, I think the thing to remember is that the calorie count, based on METs, is the total amount of calories burned, not the additional amount of calories burned beyond what are burned at rest (1.0 MET). In other words, the calories burned in a 2.0 MET activity are twice what you would have burned by doing nothing. So if you burned, say 400 calories doing an activity, it is really only 200 more than you would have burned while watching TV. If you burn 300 calories in a 1.5 MET activity, you really only burned off 100 more than you would have otherwise. But the balance games, of course are not about calorie-burning. You need to stick to the the aerobic exercises for that.

 

[DeiRenDopa]

Some of the Body Tests are easy to 'game' (basic balance test, for example, always starts on the right, and alternates), some not so easy (e.g. stability).

However, once you've learned the 'tricks', further improvement in your score on any one of these will surely involve a combo of on-going learning and underlying better balance, esp for single leg balance and stability.

Your scores-over-time on a subset of the yoga and strength training exercises should also be a rough proxy for your improving appropriate control and muscle strengths.

Hard data? Colour me curious too.

 

[casebro]

How could it not be as good for you as Yoga, Tai Chi, or even Chai Tea?

 

[Meadmaker]

See how long you can stand on one foot with your eyes closed, paying particular attention to what's happening in the muscles in your foot and lower leg while doing so, and you'll get a better perspective on that. (If you find it too easy, try it with your head tilted way back.)

That's an interesting example. I do that exercise sometimes and yes, it is difficult. Now, the question I have is whether the average person would do better at it after a month of playing Wii Fit Ski Slalom. (Or other Wii balance games.)

I did find (sorry, didn't save the link) a paper by someone studying physical therapy that found big benefits for including Wii Plus into the mix of exercises for rehabilitative therapy on certain types of injuries. (Sorry again, I don't remember what types of injuries.) Her conclusion was that unlike many recommended exercises to do at home, people would actually play Wii games, while they might not do 20 minutes of step exercises or leg lifts. So, it did do some good, and a lot more good than some other "better" exercises, but which people didn't actually do.


I didn't actually save that link though, because it wasn't really what I was after. I was specifically after some measure of balance improvement.

There was a lot of discussion, some fairly scientific, about whether the wii and/or wii fit was good for weight loss and general fitness exercises. The general consensus of the experts was that if you are dealing with someone who is almost completely sedentary, getting a wii fit is a good start, but it was no substitute for "real" exercise.