CardioWall joins the fight against Dementia

Early evidence from a day centre for the elderly in Madrid suggests the CardioWall can help reverse the effects of dementia and physical incapacity.

We have all read news stories about elderly folk in care homes who are given nothing to do but sit around and watch TV, and how this lack of stimulation accelerates the advance of physical frailty and cognitive decline.   A rapid downward spiral ensues as seniors fitness classes and active ageing activities are much harder to access for those with dementia sufferers.  Such stories are commonplace and make for sobering, indeed depressing, reading. 

But one specialist organisation is leading the way in providing a service that does not just ‘care for’ the elderly, but provides a personalised package of mental and physical stimulation for their service users.

The Hoffmann Institute, founded in Madrid by pioneering specialist in cognitive stimulation, Catalina Hoffmann, has created ‘the Hoffmann Methodology’.  This is a person-centred care model for elderly day care service users, which has demonstrated that elderly people’s brains are capable of relearning through physical, neuropsychological, nutritional, cognitive and social exercise routines.

Thus, the methodology can actually improve the wellbeing of people with a wide range of conditions such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s Disease, osteoporosis, neurological stroke damage, memory and language loss, and severely reduced physical mobility.

And now Catalina Hoffmann has identified a new elderly exercise tool to help provide the mental, physical and psychological stimulation that she knows her day care clients need – the CardioWall®

Health Impacts of CardioWall

As the first step in an exciting new collaboration between Rugged Interactive and the Hoffmann Institute, a CardioWall research trial started in Vitalia Ferraz day centre in Madrid in early April. Rapidly, the CardioWall has become an essential feature in the daily exercise routines of the centre’s users.  Just a couple of months into the trial, staff at Vitalia are already thrilled by the improvements that they are seeing on an almost daily basis:

• Alzheimer sufferers are showing improved attention, agility, mood and motivation

• Parkinson's patients benefit from better mobility and posture, less muscle rigidity and reduced pain

• Users with impaired mobility have become more agile, more relaxed and enjoy the mental stimulation

• And group usage has improved self-esteem, personal relationships and improved connection with users’ surroundings

Whilst the trial is still in its infancy, what is already clear is the transformational potential that the CardioWall can offer.  We put it down to a unique combination of 3 things:

• The motivation of game play

• The physiological benefits of physical exercise (in otherwise sedentary older people)

• And the value of cognitive stimulation in conjunction with that physical exercise

These features exploit the brain’s natural neuroplasticity – which contrary to popular belief is still there in the elderly – to help revive or create new neural pathways, enabling improved physical and cognitive function.

By the end of 2018, this Rugged-Hoffmann collaboration should have comprehensive data to describe the benefits of this exciting equipment for the elderly. 

A short case study video of the CardioWall Senior trial can be seen here – or a Spanish language version here.

For more information about the Hoffmann Methodology, go to: https://hoffmannworld.com/en/hoffmann-method/concept

by Harry Stevens