NCT05149235

Gaming Technology and Cardiac Rehabilitation

Effects of Infusion of Gaming Technology With Cardiac Rehabilitation on Autonomic Modulation of Heart: a Randomized Control Trial

• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 86 (actual)
• Sponsor: Bahria University · Academic / Other
• Sex: All
• Age: —
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

Summary

Moderate to vigorous physical activity has been shown to be associated with autonomic regulation of the heart measured with heart rate variability. Cardiac autonomic modulation can be evaluated by heart rate variability. Activity promoting games can be an effective tool to aid rehabilitation in clinical settings. Combining gaming with the ergo-cycle can facilitate improving patients' activity time spent on the cycle.

Detailed description

Physical activity is recognized as a central component of cardiac rehabilitation, improving control of cardiovascular risk factors, reducing the incidence of adverse events, leading to improvements in cardiovascular conditioning and prevention of thromboembolic events. Consequently, it provides greater physical independence and safety for hospital discharge. Coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) surgery may lead to prolonged bed rest, and immobility, which can result in negative consequences, such as a decrease in functional capacity, decrease in muscle mass and muscle tone, postural hypotension, and changes in autonomic modulation of the heart rate. Cardiac autonomic modulation can be evaluated by heart rate variability (HRV), which involves simple noninvasive measurement of the oscillations in intervals between consecutive heartbeats. Technology such as video games plays a complicated role in physical inactivity-much like a double-edged sword. To overcome this problem, the newly emerged active video games have been increasingly used to promote physical activity and health among various populations. Augmented reality games are unique because they integrate the physical and virtual worlds into a single interface using mobile devices applications. Investigators present a proof of concept of an endless running game called physio adventure which implements an activity recognition system that detects cycle rotation and its speed. The goal is to replace the traditional rehabilitation devices with innovative gaming technology with a more natural movement-based one, showing the potential of this kind of interaction to create innovative and immersive experiences while promoting physical activity.

Conditions

• Open Heart Surgery

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
OTHER	early mobilization group	Participants will perform exercises using only the cycle ergometer and ambulation. In this group, participants will be instructed to turn the pedals continuously, without any weight added to the equipment (only on 1st post-operative day) and training load will be determined by a fatigue level maintenance of 4 or 5 on the modified Borg scale with a maximum HR elevation of 20% on 2nd and 3rd post-operative days. Duration of exercise will be of 10 minutes (five minutes with the upper limbs and five minutes with the lower limbs). For the arm exercises, the individuals will be positioned with the head end of the bed raised to 60° above the horizontal, while ensuring that all the equipment responsible for measuring the patient's vital signs remained connected. For the leg exercises, the head end of the bed will be lowered to a 30° angle to provide better access to the pedals and avoid compensatory hip movements. Ambulation will be performed only on 3rd post-operative day (40 meters).
DEVICE	physio adventure	The protocol applied to the experimental group will be the same of that applied to the early mobilization group with the use of smart move instead of cycle ergometer.
OTHER	placebo	Participants allocated to the Control group will perform respiratory physiotherapy (Flow-oriented incentive spirometer (3×15), active exercises for lower and upper limbs, with each movement being repeated 10 times in an open kinetic chain. For the upper limbs, movements of anterior flexion of the shoulder will be performed until achieving maximum range of motion, using diagonal movements starting at the contralateral iliac crest up to the maximum range of anterior flexion of the shoulder associated with supination. For the lower limbs, exercises will consist of straight leg raises, hip and knee flexion-extension exercise and ankle pumps. Sessions will be of 10 minutes duration.

Timeline

• Start date: 2022-03-10
• Primary completion: 2024-06-30
• Completion: 2024-08-30
• First posted: 2021-12-08
• Last updated: 2025-08-28

Locations

1 site across 1 country: Pakistan