ABSTRACT
Improving the quality of live (QOL) of elderly individuals is becoming more important for aging societies worldwide. For elderly individuals, who tend to be less physically active, improving both motor and cognitive functions is necessary to improve their QOL. The periodic passive-sway exercise, based on traditional horseriding therapy in Europe, has recently gained attention for improving physical activity among the elderly because it is a lower load than aerobic exercises like walking, jogging, and so forth. Studies using an exercise machine that simulates horse-riding (JOBA, Panasonic) reported that motor function improved and that adding a cognitive task simultaneously with riding the JOBA also improved brain activation. Moreover, periodic passive-sway exercise is advantageous for elderly people because the seated position is safe and generates low loads on the legs, waist, and hips. In the present study, we measured the brain activation patterns during periodic passive-sway exercise using a newly developed exercise machine. Specifically, brain activity in the frontal cortex was measured using multichannel near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) during periodic passive-sway exercise (treadle exercise) and jogging with the arms (jarming) using the new exercise machine. The brain activities of 12 healthy subjects were measured using NIRS for a 16-min period, comprising 1 min of rest, 14 min of exercise and 1 min of rest. During the 14-min exercise period, 1-min sets of treadle exercise and treadle exercise with
we used a wrist-mounted keyboard for input of only two buttons and a full glove for one small sensor. Mobile user input design for a production system would need to streamline input mechanisms.
