OBJECTIVES: To evaluate cognitive and motor skills of elderly with Parkinson disease who had been submitted to video game training, including six different activities.
METHOD: Longitudinal study involving nine subjects with Parkinson disease of both genres. After having their detailed clinical anamneses taken, they were submitted to seven training sessions using the following games on the console Nintendo Wii - Wii Fit Plus: Soccer, Ski Slalom, Table Tilt Plus, Snowball Fight, Balance Bubble Plus and Big Top Juggling. To compare the performance of the participating individuals during the first and last sessions, the Wilcoxon test was chosen as the statistical analysis tool.
RESULTS: Results showed improvement in the cognitive and motor skills. Most games showed statistically significant differences between the first and last sessions: Soccer (Z = -2.207; p = 0.027), Snowball Fight (Z = -2.692; p = 0.007), Table Tilt Plus (Z = -2.428; p = 0.015), Balance Bubble Plus (Z = -2.547; p = 0.011) e Big Top Juggling (Z = -2.549; p = 0.011).
CONCLUSION: The training using video game proved to be relevant for improving cognitive and motor skills of the subjects. Once conventional games exercises can have limited results in improving those skills, it is desirable to test video games stimulating double task activities to better offer a new type of treatment.</p
