Wii Fit for Balance Training in Elderly: A Systematic Review

Falls due to poor balance are common in elderly people and can cause fractures, head injury, soft tissue trauma; and may even result in death from these complications. Balance training is one of the strategies used to prevent falls among the elderly population. Wii Fit is a new technological approach of balance training in the community dwelling elderly. The primary aim of this systematic review is to study the effectiveness of Wii Fit as a balance-training tool in older adults using various balance and fall risk assessment scales as outcome measures. Using selected keywords in English only, online literature search was conducted from 2009 to 2019. The initial search resulted in 312 articles. After screening, 14 full text articles were included for the final review and qualitative analysis. There is evidence that Wii Fit plus is a useful, cost-effective, user-friendly, less time consuming, home-based approach for reducing the risk of fall and improving the balance and physical performance in older adults. There are few or no adverse events of using Wii Fit. The commonly used outcome measures were 8 foot up and go test, activities-specific balance confidence scale, Berg balance scale, falls efficacy scale, postural sway, times up and go test and static and dynamic balance assessment tool. Key Words: Postural balance, Rehabilitation, Video games, Virtual reality, Evidence-based medicine, Technology.