Sensing In Exergames for Efficacy and Motion Quality: Scoping Review of Recent Publications

Many studies have shown a direct relationship between physical activity and health. It has also been shown that the average fitness level in Western societies is lower than recommended by the World Health Organization. One tool that can be used to increase physical activity for individual people is exergaming, that is, serious games that motivate players to do physical exercises.

This scoping review of recent studies regarding exergame efficacy aims to evaluate which sensing modalities are used to assess exergame efficacy as well as motion quality. We also analyze how the collected motion sensing data is being leveraged with respect to exergame efficacy and motion quality assessment.

We conducted 2 extensive and systematic searches of the ACM Digital Library and the PubMed database, as well as a single search of the IEEE Xplore database, all according to the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) statement. Overall, 343 studies were assessed for eligibility by the following criteria: The study should be peer-reviewed; the year of publication should be between 2015 and 2023; the study should be available in English or German; the study evaluates the efficacy of at least 1 exergame; sensor data is recorded during the study and is used for evaluation; and the study is sufficiently described to extract information on the exergames, sensors, metrics, and results.

We found 67 eligible studies, which we analyzed with regard to sensor usage for both efficacy evaluation and motion analysis. Overall, heart rate (HR) was the most commonly used vital sign to evaluate efficacy (n=52), while the Microsoft Kinect was the most commonly used exergame sensor (n=26). The results of the analysis show that the sensors used in the exergames and the sensors used in the evaluation are, in most cases, mutually exclusive, with motion quality rarely being considered as a metric.

The lack of motion quality assessment is identified as a problem both for the studies and the exergames themselves since incorrectly executed motions can reduce an exergame's effectiveness and increase the risk of injury. Here we propose how to use the same sensors both as input for the exergame and to assess motion quality by presenting recent developments in motion recognition and sensing.