The Video Game industry has come under fire in the mainstream press on occasion; issues of violence, moral ambiguity and sexual content corrupting our nation’s youth have all been debated. The video game industry is far more than just shocking games and first person war simulations; however there is in fact a “good” in gaming.
Nintendo has been synonymous with gaming for what seems like eternity; creating the iconic Super Mario, gaming’s most recognisable mascot.
In December 2006 Nintendo released a console that has not only become a gaming success story but has also changed the attitudes many people have of gaming altogether. With the use of the “Wii remote” gamers found themselves carrying out physical activities such as swinging the remote like a tennis racquet or using it like a bowling ball. The physical workout this gives those who play did not go unnoticed by many physiotherapists who quickly adapted the Wiis for their patient’s use. The term “Wii-habilitation” was soon coined, "Taking the patients’ mind off the pain -- that’s what we’re trying to do" said Debbie Franceschini of Healthcare Rehab in South Jersey, USA.
With patients concentrating on the game and the fun they have with it, pain and boredom of monotonous exercise is all but eliminated. Even Angelina Jolie recently admitted to using the system to do Pilates, something she attributes as key to the figure she has.
The Wii’s powers of healing do not stop there though. The system has been championed by the Banner Good Samaritan Medical Care team. The team took eight trainee surgeons and let them use the system for an hour before testing them on a virtual surgery using a computer simulation.
Those who used the Wii for the hour were shown to have nearly 50% higher scores in the test than those who did not. This accomplishment is not something that can be achieved by playing any game and it was found that games with intricate movements worked best; a researcher for the team remarked “You don’t gain a lot from swinging an imaginary tennis racquet around”.
The cost of the unit is also a major plus and is seen as a serious option in training surgeons in poorer countries where access to cutting edge training tools can often be limited or near impossible.
36 days ago
nice to read something a bit different