Exergaming getting hot in healthcare!

9-8-11: Taken from Mobihealth....good stuff! Ernie

Video games are hot in healthcare right now
Posted By Neil Versel On September 8, 2011

A fringe topic not too long ago, the subject gained a sense of legitimacy in July, when publisher Mary Ann Liebert Inc. introduced a new journal called Games for Health: Research, Development, and Clinical Applications. The first issue is due out this fall.

That’s right, there’s now a peer-reviewed, scientific journal specifically examining the role video games can play in advancing individual and population health, the healthcare industry and personal wellness. And this week, Liebert announced a companion newsletter called Games for Health Industry Insider, which starts publication on Sept. 29. I can see both titles being good resources for MobiHealthNews.

If you think this is an anomaly or a journal that’s ahead of its time, may I remind you that the Journal of the American Medical Association published a paper earlier this year that said video games deserve “serious attention” in healthcare.

Adding further weight to the notion that gaming can be an important part of healthcare, the University of Missouri just released news about a study underway at the school that incorporates Microsoft Kinect motion-sensing technology to help prevent falls and spot other potential health problems in seniors. A related study uses motion sensors from widely available security systems.

Researchers from Mizzou’s Sinclair School of Nursing and School of Engineering installed Kinect for Xbox 360 in a Columbia, Mo., nursing home and gave wearable sensors to residents to help measure changes in gait, a key indicator of the likelihood of falls. Additional sensors on beds were used to detect changes in sleeping patterns. Alerts get sent to nursing staff when there is a change that might signify a health issue.

“The potential that we’ve learned for early illness detection could revolutionize what’s happening in the way that we diagnose problems of older adults. We know from the research that we can pick things up 10 days to two weeks before critical health-change events happen,” nursing professor Marilyn Rantz said in a video released by the university.

Meanwhile, on Wednesday, Microsoft itself joined in. On the Microsoft HealthBlog, Dr. Bill Crounse, the Redmond Empire’s senior director for worldwide health, promoted the latest episode of Microsoft Health Tech Today, the company’s online talk show about how the company’s technology is advancing healthcare.

The subject of the newest video? Kinect.

Gaming in health—particularly mobile gaming—also is the subject of a forthcoming MobiHealthNews report. If you recall, Dr. Leslie Saxon, executive director of the University of Southern California’s Center for Body Computing, said last month that she’d like to take a mobile gaming app like Angry Birds and “diabetize it.”

Yes, we’re hearing a lot lately about gaming in health and healthcare. I don’t think it’s a coincidence. Ever since Nintendo debuted the Wii Fit as a fitness tool in 2008, gaming for health has started to break out of a niche and become mainstream. It seems as if we’re now reaching critical mass.

Article taken from mobihealthnews - http://mobihealthnews.comURL to article: http://mobihealthnews.com/13078/health-gaming-reaches-critical-mass/

VR tech symposium on DM and Obesity published!

3-4-11: Last summer, a group of games for health and exergaming colleagues presented at this NIH-sponsored symposium looking at virtual reality technology in research and education on diabetes and obesity.

Just rec'd the link that the March 2011 issue of the Journal of Diabetes Science and Technology just came out so if you'd like to see all the various presentations in articles, check out this link:

J Diabetes Science and Technology, Vol. 5, #2, March 2011

Thx to Skip Rizzo for inviting us to present and co-organizing this event. Games for health and exergaming had a lot of presence here at this symposium, and we were able to network and get better acquainted with quite a few NIH folks.

BTW, my presentation was part of an article by Barb Ruppert (along with Ben Sawyer's presentation), which you can read here in this abstract:

"New Directions in Virtual Environments and Gaming to Address Obesity and Diabetes: Industry Perspective"
by Barb Ruppert, M.A.Ed.

Author Affiliations: Telemedicine and Advanced Technology Research Center, Frederick, Maryland

Keywords: exercise games, exergames, gaming for health, medical virtual environments, virtual reality

Corresponding Author: Barb Ruppert, M.A.Ed., 271 Crum Rd., Fairfield, PA 17320; email address ruppertwritingworks@earthlink.net
Journal of Diabetes Science and Technology
Volume 5, Issue 2, March 2011 © Diabetes Technology Society

Abstract
Virtual reality is increasingly used for education and treatment in the fields of health and medicine. What is the health potential of virtual reality technology from the software development industry perspective? This article presents interviews with Ben Sawyer of Games for Health, Dr. Walter Greenleaf of InWorld Solutions, and Dr. Ernie Medina of MedPlay Technologies. Games for Health brings together researchers, medical professionals,
and game developers to share information on the impact that game technologies can have on health, health care, and policy. InWorld is an Internet-based virtual environment designed specifically for behavioral health care. MedPlay Technologies develops wellness training programs that include exergaming technology. The interviewees share their views on software development and other issues that must be addressed to advance the field of virtual reality for health applications.

J Diabetes Sci Technol 2011;5(2):277-282

Nice writeup on Games for Health

7-9-10: Check out this nice article in Reuters on our recent Games for Health conference. Ben and Steve were quoted in here!

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE66761A20100709

6th G4H Conf. history!

5-29-10: The 6th Annual Games for Health Conf. is now history! It was the best one yet, as they seem to keep getting better each year.

Check out the pictures from my FB page here:

http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=31313159&l=a2fac16f76&id=1012620518

You'll see quite a few pictures of the first ever at a conference--the Exergame Challenge! While we didn't reach the 1 million step goal (the non-profit still received their check), it really increased testing of the exergame equipment brought out by Ed, Tommy, Parker, and staff from Motion Fitness. This was a great trial run for a bigger conf. in Nov...the American Public Health Association annual meeting in Nov, in Denver, where over 14,000 public health folks from all over the world will be there. Talk about exposing exergaming to a world-wide audience!

So it was a great conference, and you can see from the pictures we had a great time. Having said that, it seems that we are now reaching a point where this conf. is poised to take the next step...CEU's? Bigger? Post-Conf. evaluations? Live streaming of sessions? These are just some of the questions discussed. 

Ben Sawyer and Beth Bryant did an AWESOME job as always, and deserve a nice break after this. 

If you weren't here, you need to make sure you can make it next year!