Effects of a 2-Week Kinect-Based Mixed-Reality Exercise Program on Prediabetes: A Pilot Trial during COVID-19

Pre-diabetes can develop into type 2 diabetes mellitus, but can prevented by regular exercise. However, the outcomes when combining unsupervised Kinect-based mixed-reality (KMR) exercise with continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) remain unclear. Therefore, this single-arm pilot trial examined changes in blood glucose (BG) concentrations over 672 hours (4 weeks), including a 2-week period of KMR exercise and CGM in individuals with pre-diabetes.

This was a pre-and post-treatment case-control study with nine participants. General questionnaires were administered and body composition, fasting BG concentrations, and 2-hour oral glucose tolerance test (2-OGTT) results were measured pre-and post-treatment. Weekly average glucose concentrations, hyperglycemia rate, hypoglycemia rate, average glucose concentration over time, amount of physical activity, amount of food intake, and pre- and postprandial BG (immediately and 30, 60, 90, and 120 minutes after lunch) were measured over 4 weeks (pre-test, exercise, and post -test weeks). Glucose concentrations were measured before exercising, between sets, and 30 and 60 minutes after exercise during the 2 weeks of unsupervised exercise (3 days/week).

In all participants, body mass index (27.16±2.92 kg/m²), fasting BG (108.00±7.19 mg/dL), 2-OGTT (162.56±18.12 mg/dL), hyperglycemia rate (P=0.040), and 90-minute postprandial BG (P=0.035) were significantly reduced during the 2 exercise weeks, and the 2-OGTT result (P=0.044) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) (P=0.046) were significantly reduced at the post -test as compared with the pre-test.

This study found that 2 weeks of unsupervised KMR exercise reduced 2-OGTT, DBP, hyperglycemia rate, and 90-minute postprandial BG concentration. We believed this effect could be identified more clearly in studies involving a larger number of participants and longer durations of exercise.