Effects of Virtual Reality and Non-Virtual Reality Exercises on the Exercise Capacity and Concentration of Users in a Ski Exergame: Comparative Study

Junho Ko; Seong-Wook Jang; Hyo Taek Lee; Han-Kyung Yun; Yoon Sang Kim

doi:10.2196/16693

Effects of Virtual Reality and Non-Virtual Reality Exercises on the Exercise Capacity and Concentration of Users in a Ski Exergame: Comparative Study

JMIR Serious Games. 2020 Oct 28;8(4):e16693. doi: 10.2196/16693.

Authors

Junho Ko¹, Seong-Wook Jang¹, Hyo Taek Lee², Han-Kyung Yun³, Yoon Sang Kim¹

Affiliations

¹ BioComputing Lab, Institute for Bio-engineering Application Technology, School of Computer Science and Engineering, Korea University of Technology and Education, Cheonan-si, Republic of Korea.
² Department of Sport Interaction Science, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon-si, Republic of Korea.
³ School of Computer Science and Engineering, Korea University of Technology and Education, Cheonan-si, Republic of Korea.

PMID: 33112240
PMCID: PMC7657714
DOI: 10.2196/16693

Abstract

Background: Recently, ski exergames have been gaining popularity due to the growing interest in health improvement. Conventional studies evaluating the effects of ski exergames only considered exercise capacity and overlooked concentration. Ski exergames consist of a motion platform for exercise and virtual reality (VR) content in the game. The VR content enhances the exercise capacity and concentration of the user by providing a challenging goal.

Objective: The aim of this study is to evaluate the effects of VR and non-VR exercises on the exercise capacity and concentration of users in a ski exergame.

Methods: To examine the effects of the VR content in ski exergames, we performed 2 experiments, non-VR exercise and VR exercise, where participants exercised on the motion platform. If a user performs an exercise without using any VR content, it is a non-VR exercise. Contrastingly, in the case of VR exercise, a user exercises according to the VR content (a downhill scenario). In addition to the range of motion (ROM) of the ankle and rated perceived exertion (RPE) to assess exercise capacity, we used electroencephalography (EEG) to assess users' concentration.

Results: We evaluated the effects of the VR content by comparing the results obtained from VR and non-VR exercises. The ROM of the ankle with VR exercise was wider than that with non-VR exercise. Specifically, ROM of the ankle was 115.71° (SD 17.71°) and 78.50° (SD 20.43°) in VR exercise and non-VR exercise, respectively. The RPE difference between the 2 exercises was not statistically significant. The result of the sensorimotor rhythm waves (which are concentration-related EEG signals) was more favorable for VR exercise than non-VR exercise. The ratios of sensorimotor rhythm wave in EEG were 3.08% and 2.70% in the VR exercise and non-VR exercise, respectively.

Conclusions: According to the results of this experiment, higher exercise capability and concentration were achieved with the VR exercise compared with non-VR exercise. The observations confirm that VR content can enhance both exercise capability and concentration of the user. Thus, the ski exergames can be used effectively by those who, in general, do not like exercise but enjoy games.

Keywords: VR content; exergame; ski simulation; virtual reality.

©Junho Ko, Seong-Wook Jang, Hyo Taek Lee, Han-Kyung Yun, Yoon Sang Kim. Originally published in JMIR Serious Games (http://games.jmir.org), 28.10.2020.