Eureka! Institutional Repository

The elderly is closely related to the appearance of many health problems. Falls are the main cause of disability, injuries and death in the elderly. Balance training and physical exercise can help prevent falls. Exercise offers benefits such as improvements in strength, endurance, balance and flexibility. However, due to the low therapy adherence, interest in the exercise of older people with the use of videogames that offer an attractive and entertaining environment emerged. The aim of this bibliographic review is to determine the effects of exergames on the balance training of the elderly aged over 65 to prevent falls. A search was performed in the databases, Pubmed, PEDro, Research Gate, Google Scholar, WHO, and Medline. Most postintervention studies reported positive results in improving the balance and physical function of the elderly. Exergames seem to be highly capable and promising for their future in the health sector. However, since there are not many randomized controlled studies with a large sample and intervention protocols and outcome measures for assessing varied, further research is needed with stronger scientific evidence in order to be considered exergames as a rehabilitation and exercise tool.