Letter to the Editor: Implementing Home-Based Exercise Technology in a Nursing Home: Does MCI Status Matter?

The scientific literature highlights the necessity of implementing appropriate exercise programs in nursing homes to overcome the barriers to physical activity, and avoid prolonged periods of sedentary (e.g. sitting) and autonomy decline among residents. Growing evidence indicates that exergaming approaches for physical activity promotion, such as interactive video games, lead to increased enjoyment and motivation in addition to positive cognitive and physical outcomes, while being cost effective (1). The Jintronix Rehabilitation System®(JRS), a new home-based exercise technology, that has a unique ability to adapt to individuals’ limitations (i.e. range of motion, speed, intensity, etc.), and increasing difficulty of games as well as automated reminders and feedback can provide users with an increased sense of control and self-efficacy, which is something that other systems lack (2). Previous studies have demonstrated that the JRS is feasible, acceptable and safe in various population such as community-living older adults who sustained a minor injury (3) or pre-disabled older adults without dementia or cognitive impairment (4). Given its potential, we explored the feasibility, acceptability and efficacy of the JRS on physical performance in nursing home residents both with and without MCI.