Wii is great for rehabilitation

Not only is the Wii game system a great source for entertainment but it is becoming a therapeutic aid helping with patient rehabilitation. WakeMed hospitals in North Carolina has begun to use the Wii to help with patient therapy. "Patients become vested in it, and when they're vested it has a lot more meaning," says Karen Ambrose, a physical therapist at the hospital. "If you can get them to want to do it," she says of the often grueling process of physical rehabilitation, "they'll do it."

One of the problems in getting rehab patients to become more involved in recovery is getting them to buy in to physical therapy. After that they can move forward in their recovery process.

According to the recent News and Observer report, the first hospital thought to have used the Wii for rehab is the Glenrose Rehabilitation Hospital in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. But WakeMed's Recreational Therapy Department heard about it from their person that delivers wheelchairs - he mentioned that "he had a Wii and thought the movement aspect might translate well to rehab".

News and Observer
July 12, 2007
Joe Miller, Staff Writer

The therapeutic Wii
Nintendo game system helps patients rehabilitate after injury or illness

It took a car accident and the onset of Parkinson's disease, but 68-year-old Nathan Woodlief may finally have a chance at beating his grandson at video games.
"He laughs at me," Woodlief says of the response his woeful performance elicits.

Junior may not be laughing, though, when Gramps returns from the hospital empowered by the device that nursed him back to health: the Nintendo Wii.

Wii? Oui.

The video game that couldn't stay on store shelves at Christmas is fast earning a second life as a useful tool in helping victims of debilitating diseases and accidents get back on their feet. Read more...