Exercise intensity during exergaming in wheelchair-dependent persons with SCI

Study design: Cross-sectional study. Objectives: To determine whether exergaming can elicit sufficient aerobic exercise intensity in wheelchair-dependent persons with spinal cord injury (SCI), and to explore how game type, cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF), and injury level influence intensity. Setting: Sunnaas Rehabilitation Hospital, Norway. Methods: Twenty-four wheelchair users with chronic SCI (AIS A–C) completed a maximal graded arm-crank test to establish VO2peak and HRpeak. After a familiarization session, participants performed 45 minutes of exergaming (three 15-minute bouts: Xbox Kinect Fruit Ninja, Nintendo Wii Sports Boxing, and VR Oculus Rift boxing) on a separate day. Exercise intensity during exergaming was monitored relative to VO2peak and HRpeak. Results: Participants exercised on average 24.5 minutes (95% CI 18.7–30.5) at moderate intensity (>50–80% VO2peak) and 6.6 minutes (95% CI 2.2–10.8) at high intensity (>80% VO2peak), totaling about 31 minutes at moderate-to-high intensity. Using HRpeak thresholds, participants accumulated 28 minutes at moderate-to-high intensity. Conclusions: Wheelchair-dependent persons with SCI can achieve moderate-to-high aerobic intensities during exergaming for a considerable portion of time, suggesting exergaming is a suitable and motivating modality to attain health-beneficial exercise intensity.

Matthijs Ferdinand Wouda, Jon-Arve Gaupseth, Espen Ingvald Bengtson, Truls Johansen, Espen Andreas Brembo, Eivind Lundgaard