Related Experiment Video
Updated: Oct 11, 2025
A Rehabilitation Program of Exoskeleton-assisted Body Weight-Supported Treadmill Training with Non-immersive Virtual Reality for Stroke Patients
Published on: May 16, 2025
Group-based telerehabilitation intervention using Wii Fit to improve walking in older adults with lower limb
Gordon Tao1,2, William C Miller2,3, Janice J Eng2,4
1Graduate Program in Rehabilitation Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, 8166The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
Objective:
Determine efficacy of the novel WiiNWalk intervention on walking-related outcomes in older adults with lower limb amputation.
Design:
Multi-site, parallel, evaluator-masked randomized controlled trial.
Setting:
Home-setting in three Canadian cities.
Participants:
Community-dwelling lower limb prosthesis users over 50 years of age.
Interventions:
The WiiNWalk group (n = 38) used modified Wii Fit activities for prosthetic rehabilitation. The attention control group (n = 33) used Big Brain Academy: Wii Degree, comprising of cognitive activities. Both groups completed a 4-week supervised phase with three 1-h sessions/week in groups of three overseen by a clinician via videoconferencing and a 4-week unstructured and unsupervised phase.
Main Measures:
Primary outcome was walking capacity (2 min walk test); secondary outcomes were balance confidence (activities-specific balance confidence scale), dynamic balance (four-step square test), and lower limb functioning (short physical performance battery). Outcomes were compared across time points with repeated measures analysis of covariance, adjusting for baseline and age.
Results:
Mean age was 65.0 (8.4) years, with 179.5 (223.5) months post-amputation and 80% transtibial amputation. No group difference in a 2 min walk test with an effect size: 1.53 95% CI [-3.17, 6.23] m. Activities balance confidence was greater in the WiiNWalk group by 5.53 [2.53, 8.52]%. No group difference in the four-step square test -0.16 [-1.25, 0.92] s, nor short physical performance battery 0.48 [-0.65, 1.61]. A post-hoc analysis showed the greatest difference in balance confidence immediately after an unsupervised phase.
Conclusions:
The WiiNWalk intervention improved balance confidence, but not walking-related physical function in older adult lower limb prosthesis users. Future rehabilitation games should be specific to the amputation context.Clinical Trial Registration number, NCT01942798.
