Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2022 Dec;15(6):629-636.
doi: 10.1007/s12178-022-09797-w. Epub 2022 Oct 27.

Gamification in Musculoskeletal Rehabilitation

Fábio Marcon Alfieri  1 , Caren da Silva Dias  2 , Natália Cristina de Oliveira  3 , Linamara Rizzo Battistella  4
Affiliations
Review

Gamification in Musculoskeletal Rehabilitation

Fábio Marcon Alfieri et al. Curr Rev Musculoskelet Med. 2022 Dec.

Abstract

Purpose of review: This study is a narrative review aiming at evaluating the current literature of the last 5 years on gamification and musculoskeletal rehabilitation. The article search involved the following MeSH terms at PubMed: "gamification," "exergaming," and "rehabilitation." Original studies in English language were included.

Recent findings: After careful analysis of the search results, 17 articles were included in this review. The use of games for rehabilitation was investigated in musculoskeletal rehabilitation conditions such as shoulder surgery, impingement syndrome, rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis, low back pain, fibromyalgia, fracture, and ligament reconstruction. Results were similar or superior to conventional physical therapy or home-based exercises, with the additional benefit of improving motivation to the exercise program. Improvements in quality of life and perceived health status were also observed. The cost-effectiveness of this type of technology was also mentioned as an advantage of exergames in musculoskeletal rehabilitation. Studies involving gamification in musculoskeletal rehabilitation stress the potential of this resource in several aspects of physical fitness, health, and quality of life, also improving motivation and adherence to the exercise treatment.

Keywords: Musculoskeletal diseases; Rehabilitation; Video games.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Main outcomes observed with the use of gamification in musculoskeletal gamification
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Negrillo-Cárdenas J, Jiménez-Pérez JR, Feito FR. The role of virtual and augmented reality in orthopedic trauma surgery: from diagnosis to rehabilitation. Comput Methods Programs Biomed. 2020;191:105407. doi: 10.1016/j.cmpb.2020.105407. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Jiménez-Delgado JJ, Paulano-Godino F, Pulido Ram-Ramírez R, Jiménez-Pérez JR. Computer assisted preoperative planning of bone fracture reduction: simulation techniques and new trends. Med Image Anal. 2016;30:30–45. doi: 10.1016/j.media.2015.12.005. - DOI - PubMed
    1. •• Patel MS, Benjamin EJ, Volpp KG, Fox CS, Small DS, Massaro JM, Lee JJ, Hilbert V, Valentino M, Taylor DH. Effect of a game-based intervention designed to enhance social incentives to increase physical activity among families: the BE FIT randomized clinical trial. JAMA Intern Med. 2017;177(11):1586–93. 10.1001/jamainternmed.2017.3458. This article investigated test the effectiveness of a gamification intervention designed using insights from behavioral economics to enhance social incentives within families to increase physical activity. - PMC - PubMed
    1. •• Sardi L, Idri A, Fernández-Alemán JL. A systematic review of gamification in e-Health. J Biomed Inform. 2017;71:31–48. 10.1016/j.jbi.2017.05.011. This article is a interesant systematic literature review conducted to explore the various gamification strategies employed in e-Health and to address the benefits and the pitfalls of this emerging discipline. - PubMed
    1. • Miller AS, Cafazzo JA, Seto E. A game plan: gamification design principles in mHealth applications for chronic disease management. Health Informatics J. 2016;22(2):184–93. 10.1177/1460458214537511. This review article addresses a knowledge gap around the effective use of gamification design principles, or mechanics, in developing mHealth applications. - PubMed