{"id":4524,"date":"2018-10-01T11:34:19","date_gmt":"2018-10-01T07:34:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.uaebarq.ae\/en\/?p=4524"},"modified":"2018-10-01T11:34:19","modified_gmt":"2018-10-01T07:34:19","slug":"have-back-pain-researchers-say-video-games-can-help","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uaebarq.ae\/en\/2018\/10\/01\/have-back-pain-researchers-say-video-games-can-help\/","title":{"rendered":"Have Back Pain? Researchers Say Video Games Can Help"},"content":{"rendered":"

If video games could help take away pain, would people actually pick up a controller? It\u2019s a thoroughly 21st-century question that researchers at the University of Sydney sought to answer in a new study published in the journal\u00a0Physical Therapy.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

In the first study of its kind, researchers introduced Nintendo\u2019s Wii Fit U to some unlikely players: Adults aged 55 and older who suffer from chronic lower back pain. The researchers instructed participants to use the Wii Fit U exercise program for 60 minutes, 3 times a week. Though video games\u00a0have been used before\u00a0in musculoskeletal rehabilitation, this research shows preliminary evidence supporting the use of video games to manage chronic lower back pain.<\/p>\n

Rising cases of back pain<\/h3>\n

Lower back pain is the most debilitating musculoskeletal condition around the world, with more than\u00a080 percent of Americans\u00a0experiencing it at some point in their lives. It\u2019s costly too: In the United States alone, costs related to the condition exceed\u00a0$100 billion a year.<\/p>\n

Keaton Ray, PT, DPT, attributes the condition and costs to a sedentary society, discordant treatment options, and an inefficient healthcare system.<\/p>\n

Worse, lower back pain increases as we age.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs we get older, the discs in-between our joints actually shrink,\u201d explained physical therapist\u00a0Michael Kamme. \u201cSo as that happens, if the disc doesn\u2019t degenerate symmetrically, it winds up putting pressure on other structures, and starts to cause pain within the joints.\u201d<\/p>\n

This pain affects daily activity, can inhibit the ability to walk and sleep, and has even been\u00a0linked\u00a0to malnutrition and psychological distress.<\/p>\n

Despite the higher rates of the condition in older adults, they\u2019re commonly left out of controlled trials on lower back pain. Kamme says it\u2019s important to study their needs.<\/p>\n

\u201c[Older adults] actually need more focus and more attention because they have other complications that can make their lower back pain and general health even worse,\u201d Kamme said.<\/p>\n

\n

What did the study find?<\/h3>\n

Six months after the study, participants who used the Wii Fit U reported much higher pain self-efficacy than the control group (though higher pain self-efficacy was not reported immediately or at the three-month mark). Additionally, the Wii Fit U users also showed significantly greater improvements in pain and function. They were also much more likely to continue flexibility exercises at least once a week even six months after the study.<\/p>\n

Older adults tend to prefer at-home therapies to anything that requires them to travel or pay additional costs, but research has shown that adherence rates to home exercise programs are typically\u00a0very low. However, adherence in this study was 70.8 percent, which is high, especially when compared to studies where participants exercised without supervision.<\/p>\n

That could be due to the medium providing instruction. Because video games inherently require interaction, and give on-screen instructions and performance feedback, people could choose them more often to exercise.<\/p>\n

Ray says that the research is encouraging.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnything that keeps people active and moving is going to be a successful way to manage low back pain,\u201d Ray said.<\/p>\n

However, she notes that the Wii Fit U exercises are very \u201cgeneral,\u201d while \u201crecent research that\u2019s coming out about physical therapy treatment for low back pain\u2026 says it should be a really specific type of exercise program based on specific evaluation.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n
Other ways to fix back pain<\/div>\n

There are, however, ways to manage low back pain at home that don\u2019t require individualized treatment plans (or costly gaming systems).<\/p>\n

Keep moving:\u00a0<\/strong>It\u2019s important to continue movement, no matter how small. Kamme suggests getting up every 30 minutes, even just for 5 seconds.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe more you can move your body despite your pain, the healthier you\u2019re going to be, and the quicker your back pain is going to resolve,\u201d Ray says.<\/p>\n

Watch your posture:\u00a0<\/strong>\u201cEven if you held perfect posture for hours on end, you\u2019d still end up being kind of achy because your body wasn\u2019t designed to sit in perfect posture for long periods of time,\u201d Ray says.<\/p>\n

But bad posture can still take a toll after years of sitting and it\u2019s important to be cognizant of it.<\/p>\n

Choose the right chair:\u00a0<\/strong>Ray recommends choosing furniture that supports the curvature of your low spine.<\/p>\n

\u201cFirmer chairs and higher chairs are better because they don\u2019t let you sink down,\u201d Kamme notes. He suggests bringing a kitchen chair into the living room to watch TV. While it might not be as comfortable as the couch, it encourages better posture which can minimize pain.<\/p>\n

Exercise carefully:\u00a0<\/strong>Kamme cautions that most exercise should be directed by a professional, but shares one movement many PTs encourage: Suck your belly button into your spine (\u201clike you\u2019re putting on a pair of pants that don\u2019t fit\u201d) to stimulate your core muscles. It\u2019s important to remember to breathe during this exercise to avoid raising your blood pressure.<\/p>\n

Use topical creams properly:<\/strong>Topical solutions should only be used to \u201cmitigate the pain so you can move,\u201d Kamme says. Using those pain relief methods should only be used in conjunction with regular movement.<\/p>\n

One last word:<\/strong>\u00a0Kamme\u2019s final words of advice for those suffering from chronic lower back pain? \u201cThe sooner you move, the sooner you\u2019re active in any way, the better it\u2019s going to feel. The more you\u2019re sedentary and avoid those movements, the longer it tends to linger. And the sooner you get attention for it, the better as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

–<\/p>\n

Healthline<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If video games could help take away pain, would people actually pick up a controller? It\u2019s a thoroughly 21st-century question that researchers at the University of Sydney sought to answer in a new study published in the journal\u00a0Physical Therapy.\u00a0 In the first study of its kind, researchers introduced Nintendo\u2019s Wii Fit U to some unlikely …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4526,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4524","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uaebarq.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4524","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uaebarq.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uaebarq.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uaebarq.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uaebarq.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4524"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.uaebarq.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4524\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4530,"href":"https:\/\/www.uaebarq.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4524\/revisions\/4530"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uaebarq.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4526"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uaebarq.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4524"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uaebarq.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4524"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uaebarq.ae\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4524"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}