Feasibility, safety and outcomes of playing Kinect Adventures!™ for people with Parkinson's disease: a pilot study

Objectives: To assess the feasibility, safety and outcomes of playing Microsoft Kinect Adventures™ for people with Parkinson's disease in order to guide the design of a randomised clinical trial.

Design: Single-group, blinded trial.

Setting: Rehabilitation Center of São Camilo University, Brazil.

Participants: Seven patients (six males, one female) with Parkinson's disease (Hoehn and Yahr Stages 2 and 3).

Interventions: Fourteen 60-minute sessions, three times per week, playing four games of Kinect Adventures!

Main outcome measures: The feasibility and safety outcomes were patients' game performance and adverse events, respectively. The clinical outcomes were the 6-minute walk test, Balance Evaluation System Test, Dynamic Gait Index and Parkinson's Disease Questionnaire (PDQ-39).

Results: Patients' scores for the four games showed improvement. The mean [standard deviation (SD)] scores in the first and last sessions of the Space Pop game were 151 (36) and 198 (29), respectively [mean (SD) difference 47 (7), 95% confidence interval 15 to 79]. There were no adverse events. Improvements were also seen in the 6-minute walk test, Balance Evaluation System Test, Dynamic Gait Index and PDQ-39 following training.

Conclusion: Kinect-based training was safe and feasible for people with Parkinson's disease (Hoehn and Yahr Stages 2 and 3). Patients improved their scores for all four games. No serious adverse events occurred during training with Kinect Adventures!, which promoted improvement in activities (balance and gait), body functions (cardiopulmonary aptitude) and participation (quality of life).