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Pam Angus Leppan is a very busy woman. She’s 78 years old, a recently graduated solicitor, owns several businesses, plays tennis and Bridge and is writing a PhD on the financial abuse of older people's property.
Phew! Somewhere in the middle of all of this, she manages to squeeze in time to be a participant in a very groovy NeuRA research study.
Pam has been having a boogie in the name of science, trying out a new dance mat designed specifically to help older people increase their activity levels and decrease their risk of falling.
“Balance is the worst thing for me,” says Pam. “I used to have very good balance when I was a mountain climber, but I lost confidence when I stopped climbing. There was a period when I was a bit nervous and if I didn’t concentrate, I didn’t feel quite so sure.”
While Pam hasn’t suffered a fall herself, many of her friends have. Falls become much more common – and more dangerous – as people get older. They can result in serious injuries, such as hip fractures, and a fear of falling which can lead to reduced activity and a loss of independence. Falls are one of the biggest reasons why older people move into nursing homes.
It’s for these reasons that NeuRA’s Dr Stuart Smith has developed his dance mat video game.
“We know that we can reduce people’s risk of falling by getting them to be more active,” says Dr Smith. “A lot of the games on the market that require you to move your body to interact with the game are ideally suited to getting people to exercise.”
Dr Smith says that video games can be a way of engaging people in boring repetitive practice that they may not do otherwise.
“It’s great for practising stepping, which is important. If you’re walking down the street and trip over, then you have to step as quickly as possible to regain your balance.”
He says that having a dance mat at home means you don’t need to leave home to exercise, which means you’re more likely to practise more often.
Dr Smith’s dance mat is based on an off-the-shelf dance mat video game, called ‘Dance Dance Revolution’, which requires you to coordinate your steps with arrows on a screen.
The team have adapted this game, slowing it down to suit the speed of the older generation and ditching the techno music in favour of Frank Sinatra.
Dr Smith is currently rolling his dance mat out to 50 households around Sydney to see whether six months of everyday use reduces people’s risk of falling.
Pam doesn’t need any convincing that a dance revolution is at hand.
“I have friends who used to be very active, and now they say, oh we're getting old, we don't want to do these things any more. I don't agree with that,” she says.
“I've learned some important things from the study. I’ve realised that you've got to move your feet, and this has made my tennis so much better. I think that we should all stay active and independent as much as we can. I hope I'll still be here when I'm 100, that’s my motivation.”
Related links:
Our Research – Sensation, Movement, Falls and Balance (Research Theme)
Our Research – Lord Group
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