A Pathway to Healthier Aging
By Alaina Victoria, PT, DPT, OneStep
LinkedIn: Alaina Victoria, PT, DPT
LinkedIn: OneStep
Maintaining motivation and commitment to rehabilitation can be a significant challenge across all ages, including seniors. By integrating game-like elements into physical therapy (PT) exercises, such as challenges, rewards, and interactive technology, seniors can find renewed enthusiasm for their rehabilitation efforts. This approach, known as gamification, makes exercises engaging and enjoyable and contributes to psychological and social well-being. Gamification of PT can also foster an overall more active and healthy lifestyle for seniors.
Turning Exercises into Enjoyable and Effective Activities
Traditional exercises can sometimes feel mundane and repetitive, leading to decreased motivation — especially among individuals new to physical activity. By incorporating elements of gamification, seniors are more likely to engage with their plan of care and complete their exercise programs. For example, using digital health apps or virtual reality platforms can transform simple movements into immersive experiences, making exercise entertaining and effective. Digital health apps often push notifications to remind patients to complete their daily challenges to help them reach their mobility goals. This helps foster healthy routines while the ability to track one’s progress boosts autonomy. Studies have shown that following along with videos or virtual reality sessions that immerse patients in various whole-body, gamified activities drives engagement and is an effective way of addressing musculoskeletal and neurological deficits in patients. Additionally, incorporating gamified elements such as rewards, feedback loops, stories and themes, and varying levels of difficulty have been found to be great motivating factors that motivate patients.
Jennifer Freda, PT, DPT, GCS, CDP, and QAPD Clinical Specialist at FOX Rehabilitation is a big believer in gamification of therapy — and has seen incredible results from incorporating it into her treatment plans! “Combining gamification with therapy enhances engagement and self-reflection, benefiting overall patient progress. Therapy should be a time of excitement and gamification enhances that! My patients love using digital health apps like OneStep because they provide reminders, movement feedback, and encourage them to improve their ‘scores’ with each walk. This approach taps into the brain’s dopamine system, fostering learning and recovery. Ultimately, this fusion of game design and therapy presents a new era in empowering therapists with a potent tool to drive behavioral change and empowerment among older adults.”
Fostering Psychological and Social Wellbeing
One of the key advantages of gamification in PT is its ability to foster psychological benefits and social interaction among seniors. Group-based activities or multiplayer games encourage collaboration, communication, and camaraderie among participants, creating a supportive environment for rehabilitation. This provides opportunities for mirroring and learning from those around them as well as independent practice of movements in a novel but controlled, setting. Moreover, studies have shown that social interaction facilitated by gamification of exercise has been linked to improved emotional well-being, decreased feelings of loneliness, and a sense of belonging, which are vital aspects of healthy aging.
Setting and Achieving Personal Goals
The element of competition, even if it’s just with oneself, plays a crucial role in motivating seniors to set and achieve personal goals during PT. By tracking progress, earning rewards, and unlocking achievements, seniors experience a sense of accomplishment and fulfillment, reinforcing their commitment to rehabilitation. Additionally, setting realistic goals tailored to individual abilities and interests ensures that seniors remain engaged and motivated throughout the rehabilitation process. Gamified elements such as real-time motion feedback also play a major role in keeping seniors motivated and able to self-correct certain movement patterns leading to improved functional mobility.
The Impact on Overall Health and Well-being
The gamification of PT extends beyond physical rehabilitation to encompass holistic health and well-being. By promoting regular physical activity, cognitive stimulation, and social interaction, gamified PT programs contribute to overall health promotion and disease prevention among seniors. Research has shown that there are also many parallels between designing therapeutic interventions and gaming activities and that gamifying therapy has the potential to facilitate engagement, learning, and improved physical capabilities such as mobility, balance, and functional independence. Ultimately, movement is medicine and the key to optimal, healthy aging.