Telerehabilitation through a game platform to promote physical activity for women with breast cancer
Author(s)
Lopes, Olivia Campos
Morelli, Fernanda Celi Guimarães
Moraes, Íbis Ariana Peña de
Araújo, Luciano Vieira
Dias, Eduardo Dati
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Introduction
Cancer is the main public health problem in the world. One possibility for maintaining physical activity and promoting health is through telerehabilitation.
Objectives
To analyze the effect of virtual reality (VR) training on the variables: rating of perceived exertion (RPE) and heart rate (HR) in breast cancer patients.
Methods
Thirty women with breast cancer participated in this study. For healthy controls, 28 women participated, with similar ages to the cancer group. The participants performed VR training, always guided by the researcher. There were ten intervention sessions, using the game MoveHero. The RPE and HR were assessed at four moments (before the intervention and after each of the three songs), and the Brunel mood scale (BRUMS) was applied on the first, fifth, and tenth days.
Results
HR significantly increased between the assessments before and after the interventions on all days, except for the eighth day. There was a significant increase in the HR from the first to fourth days (p = 0.033) and from the first to ninth days (p = 0.005). Both groups presented significantly increased RPE values at all four moments (p < 0.001), while within days, the difference was significant from the first to fourth days (p = 0.006), the first to fifth days (p = 0.049), and the first to ninth days (p = 0.056).
Conclusion
The participants with breast cancer showed increases in RPE and HR during interventions, even though the difficulty of the game increased, providing evidence of improvements in their metabolic capacity.
Trial Registration
ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT05530876
Cancer is the main public health problem in the world. One possibility for maintaining physical activity and promoting health is through telerehabilitation.
Objectives
To analyze the effect of virtual reality (VR) training on the variables: rating of perceived exertion (RPE) and heart rate (HR) in breast cancer patients.
Methods
Thirty women with breast cancer participated in this study. For healthy controls, 28 women participated, with similar ages to the cancer group. The participants performed VR training, always guided by the researcher. There were ten intervention sessions, using the game MoveHero. The RPE and HR were assessed at four moments (before the intervention and after each of the three songs), and the Brunel mood scale (BRUMS) was applied on the first, fifth, and tenth days.
Results
HR significantly increased between the assessments before and after the interventions on all days, except for the eighth day. There was a significant increase in the HR from the first to fourth days (p = 0.033) and from the first to ninth days (p = 0.005). Both groups presented significantly increased RPE values at all four moments (p < 0.001), while within days, the difference was significant from the first to fourth days (p = 0.006), the first to fifth days (p = 0.049), and the first to ninth days (p = 0.056).
Conclusion
The participants with breast cancer showed increases in RPE and HR during interventions, even though the difficulty of the game increased, providing evidence of improvements in their metabolic capacity.
Trial Registration
ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT05530876
Editor(s)
Adams, Brian D
Date Issued
2025-01-01
Date Acceptance
2025-09-18
Citation
European Journal of Cancer Care, 2025, 2025 (1)
ISSN
0961-5423
Publisher
Wiley
Journal / Book Title
European Journal of Cancer Care
Volume
2025
Issue
1
Copyright Statement
© 2025 Olivia Campos Lopes et al. European Journal of Cancer Care published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
License URL
Publication Status
Published
Date Publish Online
2025-10-17