Exploring Nintendo Wii Balance Board as a tool to assess lower limb muscle strength for fall risk screening in elderly women

Abstract

The aging process and declining muscle strength and function are known to increase the risk of falls in older adults. The Nintendo Wii Balance Board (NWBB) is a cost-effective and easily accessible alternative to traditional dynamometry for measuring lower limb muscle strength. The study objective was to validate the ability of NWBB to assess lower limb muscle strength and screen the risk of falls in older adults. Ninety community-dwelling elderly women, divided into falling risk and non-falling groups, underwent lower limb muscle strength measurements using NWBB. Moreover, the power index of the sit-to-stand test (P_STS) was calculated from the time to completed Five Times Sit-to-Stand Test (FTSST) (T_STS). The correlation between each variable was assessed. The cut-off score, sensitivity, and specificity for the NWBB's measurement of lower limb muscular strength was determined using the receiver operating curve (ROC). The falling-risk elderly women showed significantly higher T_STS and significantly lower P_STS and leg muscle strength measured by NWBB than the non-falling risk group (p-value <0.01). A strong negative correlation was observed between T_STS and lower limb muscle strength measured by NWBB (r = - 0.747, p <0.001). The appropriate cut-off score was >79.83 kg to identify non-falling risk older adults with the best sensitivity (90.38 %) and specificity (86.84 %). In conclusion, the NWBB has demonstrated concurrent validity with established measures of lower limb muscle strength, making it a viable option for screening the risk of falls in elderly women populations.