VR for inactive citizens and people with dementia at nursing homes
SYNCSENSE® is used by neurological and geriatric citizens with reduced cognitive function and/or a low level of physical activity. SYNCSENSE® is a 2-in-1 solution that can be used both by those who lack motivation for exercise – and by those who lack cognitive stimulation.
The case video shows how and why a nursing home gains value by having implemented the VR solution.
Case video: Holmegårdsparken nursing home, Gentofte Municipality.
Selected partners and reference customers
- OK-Fonden, Bavne Ager nursing home.
- Danske Diakonhjem, Kornumgård nursing home.
- Assens Municipality, De Gamles Hjem nursing home.
- City of Copenhagen, Langgadehus, Lindehusene nursing home.
- Gentofte Municipality, Holmegårdsparken nursing home.
- Læsø Municipality, Byrum nursing home.
- Nordfyn Municipality, Kærgården, Vesterbo, Møllehaven nursing homes.
This is what your colleagues say about SYNCSENSE®
“VR as a tool for sensory integration, relationships and quality of life.
As a psychomotor therapist, I work with body, senses and relationships. Recently, I experienced how VR can not only create visual experiences, but also open up memories, emotions and life story. A simple VR church service turned into a moment of presence, singing and conversation about the meaning of life.
Technology cannot replace human contact – but it can create new spaces for quality of life”
Read Andreas's full article.
"VR exercise helps improve living conditions and the good life in old age. The VR exercise gives the residents an active and entertaining breathing space – and it motivates them to exercise again and again.
The VR solution is a supplementary tool used by both our care staff and therapists. We have recently initiated an implementation strategy that seeks to engage and involve relatives so that they feel like helping and contributing to activating our residents to an even greater extent than we ourselves are able to.”
"VR exercise is much more than just exercise - it is an experience. The VR experience can help evoke memories in the user and be used as cognitive training. VR helps increase the quality of life and level of activity among the users.”
"The VR solution from SYNCSENSE is easy to operate and fun to work with. It helps us motivate our residents to more enjoyable physical exercise.”
"VR exercise already supports the qualified exercise, but at the same time provides a sensory-stimulating experience of getting out of the house - something we otherwise do not have the possibility of. I also find that residents with cognitive deficits exercise for longer, and that the experience becomes more meaningful through conversation along the way and afterwards via tablet viewing."
"The implementation of the VR solution has taken place in close collaboration with SYNCSENSE, which has been responsive to the suggestions made by the therapists.
Møllegården and Egegården nursing homes have purchased VR solutions on the basis of a test course that included 16 residents. Based on the results of the test course, the technology is expected to contribute to greater quality of life, better mobility and motivation for the residents.”
"We in Lolland Municipality are pleased with the simple and straightforward way the VR headset from SYNCSENSE works, and of course also with the fact that the solution contributes to free hands for the healthcare professionals, increased movement among our older citizens and a higher quality of life in the moment with the help of welfare technology.”
"I had not worked with the VR solution for many months before one successful experience followed another. The experience I would like to share that has touched me deeply is from a citizen who had been very active earlier in his life but has now developed muscular dystrophy in his legs, which bothers him greatly. The citizen has expressed that he no longer wishes to live because of his reduced level of functioning. He used to cycle on his tricycle around Langelinie and Amalienborg. And as there is a VR film from this place, I thought he was an obvious choice to try the VR headset. And it was a great success! He smiled and laughed throughout the entire bike ride and was very positive about the whole experience. Along the way he said that he no longer felt ill. Afterwards he gladly and actively participated in the social gathering for coffee and cake and was incredibly motivated to start and come regularly to the centre in order to be able to do this VR bike ride that he had missed so much.
This experience underlined for me how important it is to search for tools that provide new opportunities to improve the quality of life for our citizens and how even a short 15-minute VR film can evoke such a great feeling of joy and meaning in life.”
Physical inactivity and reduced cognitive function have negative consequences for older people in nursing homes
An older generation with a growing burden of multiple chronic conditions will challenge the healthcare system of the future and society in general. Healthy ageing is therefore a theme that is more important than ever before.
More than 41,000 older citizens with an average age of 84 live in one of Denmark's 950 nursing homes [1]. The population of Danish citizens over 80 will have doubled by 2050 [2]; in 2100 this figure will have tripled in Europe [3], and worldwide there will already by 2050 be approx. 2 billion older people compared with the approx. 0.5 billion there are today [4].
Several studies show that citizens in nursing homes are completely physically inactive for between 79–85% of their waking time, 12–20% at low physical activity, and only 1–2% at light, moderate or intense physical activity [5, 6].
The combination of prolonged physical inactivity and old age is a neglected problem. Physical inactivity has serious and well-documented consequences for bones, muscles and the cardiovascular system [7]. Even short-term physical inactivity in older people markedly reduces fitness and muscle mass [8].
Physical inactivity among older people causes more than 50,000 extra somatic hospital admissions annually. Treatment and care of physical inactivity cost Danish society almost 5 billion kroner per year and also cause more than 5,000 deaths [9].
Seated cycling exercise is a gentle, safe and effective form of exercise for older citizens [10] and builds independence in key ADL functions [11], such as getting up and taking more steps [12].
For older cognitively challenged citizens (e.g. with dementia), the great advantage of cycling exercise is its fundamental ability to increase the citizen's physical strength and sustained stability in the legs [13]. A seated bike is safe to use for citizens with balance challenges. At the same time it is gentle, because even from a very low starting point of physical output it can gradually build physical strength [10].
One study has, for example, found that (max) 15 minutes of seated cycling approx. 4 times a week over just 3 weeks increased older citizens' average cycling distance by 26% [12].
The result was a significant difference in the ability to walk (both distance and speed), improved both exercise duration and pedalling/strength, as well as the ability to rise from a seated position [12]. Just 100 steps a day have been shown to lead to a 10% reduction in the risk of physical complications such as disease relapse [14].
Research shows that cycling makes older people 9–17% more efficient at walking [16].
Cycling trains the leg muscles used to take steps far more effectively than the same amount of time spent on a walk [15, 16]. But cycling exercise also functions as prevention in health risk areas such as fall prevention.
30% of older Danish citizens living at home and 50% of citizens in nursing homes fall at least once a year [17].
Citizens with dementia are at twice the risk of fall episodes and recover more slowly afterwards [17].
Falls can lead to serious, lasting injuries for older citizens [18]. When the efficiency of an older citizen's locomotor-based functions such as balance, coordination, step length and endurance is reduced, the risk of fall episodes increases [13]. With endurance-based physical activity such as seated cycling exercise, the citizen's physical abilities are improved to a degree that has been directly demonstrated as an effective method of fall prevention [13].
References can be found HERE.
