Effects of Exergaming in Cancer Related Fatigue in the Quality of Life and Electromyography of the Middle Deltoid of People with Cancer in Treatment: A Controlled Trial

Objective: In the present study, we aimed to evaluate the effects an exergaming protocol for cancer patients whoundergo or have already undergone cancer treatment. We sought to evaluate changes in cancer-related fatigue, function,and ability to perform daily activities, in addition to changes in the electromyographic pattern of the middle deltoidmuscle. Methods: We conducted a controlled trial. Nineteen volunteers in the cancer group (aged 61 ± 9 years; bodymass index28 ± 5) and 19 in the control group (aged 58 ± 8 years); body mass index 28 ± 4) participated in the study.They were evaluated by means of a sociodemographic and clinical questionnaire, the Functional Assessment of ChronicTherapy-Fatigue (FACIT-F) questionnaire, and surface electromyography in the deltoid muscle at three moments: beforethe beginning of the exergaming protocol, after 10 training sessions, and after 20 sessions. The protocol consisted ofpracticing exergaming using Xbox 360® (Microsoft, Redmond, USA) with Kinect®. The game “Your Shape FitnessEvolved” (Ubisoft, Rennes, France) was used. Results: Total FACIT-F scores, fatigue subscale scores, and medianfrequency values observed in the cancer group were lower than those in the control group. These values improved inrelation to the initial evaluation in the cancer group after the practice of the exergaming protocol. Conclusion: Theexergaming protocol used in this study was effective for reducing reported symptoms of fatigue, increasing perceivedquality of life, and improving the pattern of deltoid muscle contraction in cancer patients.