Exercise by playing active video gaming in overweight and obese children.

Background: Active video gaming (AVG) has been suggested as a way of combating sedentary lifestyle in children. The objective was to investigate the effects of exercise by playing AVG on fitness and motivation for physical activity in children with overweight or obesity. Methods: Fourteen children participated in an AVG program using Xbox Kinect and Nintendo Wii for one hour per session, two sessions per week for eight weeks. Three evaluations were performed at the beginning of the 1st, 9th and 16th sessions. The outcome measures include 1) physical fitness: vital signs, body mass index, body composition, muscular strength, muscular endurance, cardiovascular endurance and flexibility; 2) psychological assessments: Motives for Physical Activity Measure- Revised (MPAM-R) and Situational Motivational Scale (SIMS). In addition, real-time heart rates (HR) were monitored to assess exercise exertion throughout each session. Results: No statistically significant changes were found in each component of physical and psychological assessments. MPAM-R was shown to have a good internal consistency reliability (Cronbach’s alpha>0.8). Average and peak HR demonstrated the majority of subjects were able to achieve moderate or vigorous intensity of exercise during most AVG sessions. Conclusions: Eight-week AVG program was not sufficient to show changes in fitness or motivation for physical activity in overweight and obese children. However, AVG might be an alternative and engaging way to reach moderate or vigorous intensity of exercise for this population. Future research may focus on a larger sample size and more frequent and longer training program to determine if benefits of AVG exist for overweight and obese children.