PRINTA new grip on rehab
Missouri patients use Wii therapy for work and play
Courtesy of Nintendo, Illustration by Meredith Purcell
July 24, 2008 | 12:00 a.m. CST
Nintendo, you may now add “rehabilitation specialist” to your résumé.
When Nintendo introduced the Wii in 2006, one of its primary goals was to expand its target market beyond nocturnal teens who spend hours playing Madden. They did just that, with the help of older generations. The Wii is making its mark outside the home in hospital rooms and rehabilitation centers across Missouri, all while reinventing the way modern medicine is being practiced.
Fitness isn’t free. In order to particpate in Wii rehab, you have to flex your wallet. According to price listings at Best Buy and Amazon, your own personal Wii rehab can cost around 300 dollars.
Wii console with one remote: $249.99
Wii sports: free (with console)
Wii sports pack: $19.99
- Gaming issue glossary
- Rated ‘E’ for exercise
- It’s my turn to play
- Kings and queens of strategy
- Girls who game
- Doc hunt
- Tabled obsessions
- For every age
- On the job with a pinball wizard
- Off-screen games
- Where virtual meets reality
- What’s next?
- Bent on experimentation
- Guess who games?
- Table-Top Gamer: Patrick Nolan, 38
- Negin Rising
“Some people are hesitant at starting it because of the technology, but once they try it, they are hooked,” says Geri Tyrey, a therapeutic recreational therapist at St. Anthony’s Acute Rehab Unit in St. Louis.
Although Nintendo is famous for games such as Super Mario Bros. and Mario Kart, it is classic sports such as tennis, golf and bowling that are attracting a new crowd of Wii users. The games are simulators in which patients actually participate in the game and call for movements such as swinging a golf club or serving a tennis ball. They are relayed to the main console with a handheld remote control. The active movements allow rehab patients to work on their balance, upper and lower body movements, trunk control, range of motion, weight shifting and physical endurance. It also improves cognitive skills such as concentration, memorization and problem solving. So instead of walking on a boring treadmill, patients are bowling for strikes and putting for par.
“It is a way to incorporate a functional activity into something that is fun,” says Kim Vemmer, director of rehab at the Blue River Rehab Center in Kansas City. “It is less expensive than other therapy equipment and very popular among patients.”
However, it is a combination of different types of treatments along with the Wii that gets patients up and moving again. “By no means by just using the Wii would we get the results we get,” Vemmer says.
The Wii trend is beginning to pick up in Columbia. Select Physical Therapy is on the hunt for one, but manager Sean Ellis wants to make sure it is exactly what the doctor ordered. “We are planning on getting one soon,” he says. “We are addressing some safety issues that could be involved. It seems like it is safe for many but not for all.”
The Wii also helps stroke victims. Strokes can cause paralysis on one side of the body. Crystal Gateley, an occupational therapist at Boone Hospital Center, prescribes Wii therapy to her patients to aid in recuperation of both sides of their bodies.
“If there is weakness on their right side, I have them stand on both legs while they are bowling and it helps the right leg to improve,” she says.
A stroke not only affects the body, but vision as well. Using the Wii can help with this. “Because you have the remote in your hand, you actually do the movements,” Gately says. “It is a little difficult, but it helps with hand-eye coordination.”
Older patients who are not as familiar with gaming technology are quick at picking up on the Wii’s user-friendliness. Paul Rios, director of rehab at the Rehabilitation Center of Independence, thinks there are other underlying reasons as to why Wii therapy has been so successful among geriatric patients.
“(Residents) can compete against one another,” Rios says. “It is good for the community setting and meeting other residents.”
Benita Dodson, 86, has been a resident at the Rehabilitation Center of Independence since November 2005. She had been in physical therapy sessions up until early 2008 for treatments on her knee replacements, a back fracture and broken hips. Her sessions included stretching, marching and walking with parallel bars. In February, she was introduced to the Wii to re-strengthen her lower body, and her wheelchair is no distraction to the game at hand.
“(Rios) makes me sit down when it is not my turn and then stand up when it is my turn,” she says. “It helps with my posture and straightens my legs.”
Dodson is a fan of Wii bowling; she says she has worked her way up to pro level.
Perhaps the next concern on the doctor’s list is Wii addiction. Toni Putnam, an occupational therapist at the Veteran’s Affairs Hospital in Kansas City, knows all about her patients’ difficulties with trying to put down that remote.
“I had a patient who was obsessed with playing,” Putnam says. “He played for two hours straight and missed his own doctor’s appointment.”
