Age NI has called for the development of computer game technology which is thought to help the elderly avoid falls.

The research was carried out by Queen’s University Belfast professor Cathy Craig and has been backed by Chief Executive of Age NI Anne O’Reilly.

The research, funded by the Centre for Ageing Research and Development in Ireland (CARDI) has shown that playing computer games can increase balance in older people, thus making them less likely to fall.

Balanced-based, interactive games like the Nintendo Wii were found to be particularly effective.

Approximately 300 older people die from falls throughout Ireland every year. Falling can damage older people’s confidence, reduce mobility and lead to isolation and lonliness.

Anne O’Reilly was speaking at the launch of Professor Craig’s study on Wednesday at W5 in Belfast’s Odyssey Arena.

She said: "This is a local, effective, low cost solution to help people age well. This is really worthy of further investigation and further development. I support the call for the business community to get involved."

Professor Craig added: "Improving balance and gait can play an important role in helping older people avoid falls and injury as well as improving their mobility confidence. The games designed in this project to build better balance were formulated with older people in mind. Older people who played the games enjoyed an improvement in both

static and dynamic balance. This approach proved to be a fun way of achieving these benefits in a novel, stimulating and cost-effective manner."

Participants in Dublin and Belfast were tested and it was found that those who played the games had significantly greater improvements in balance control than those who didn’t.

(IT)