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Briefs
| 11/5/2008 2:35:00 PM Email this article • Print this article | |
Wii-hab Comes to Cortland
Gaming System Enters Physical Therapy Field
Jamie Saine
A golfer plays through a grassy green hole thinking about his stance, his swing and his follow through. A lifetime bowler tweaks his throw to put the perfect spin on the ball as it coasts down the lane. A tennis player who hasn't played in years practices overhand and underhand strokes to re-strengthen her muscles. All these situations have taken place in the safety of physical therapy clinics as Nintendo Wii systems move into the world of professional rehabilitation.
The Cortland Regional Medical Center began running a "Wii-hab" program this year and is using it to treat everyone from pediatric to geriatric patients. Though kids love the Wii because of the gaming aspect, Wendy Kolodziejczyk, director of rehabilitation services at the Center, said the idea to use the system for rehab began with geriatric patients.
"We had a couple of folks who were bowlers or golfers or fishermen," she said. "We started looking at it as something the patients were interested in."
Kolodziejczyk said playing Wii distracts people while they practice the same movements they would with traditional rehabilitation. It engages people who may not be motivated, and playing specific sports games gives adults and seniors something to work toward while they recover from an injury or surgery.
"If we have somebody who is sports oriented, we can actually utilize the game system before we put them in a real life setting," she said. "It challenges a patient a little bit more than just pretending. If you swing badly it goes off the green, it gives them better feedback than just pretending."
Wii systems are also being used to help re-train younger athletes after injuries. Barbara Belyea, clinical associate professor of physical therapy at Ithaca College, is working with college athletes who are mostly recovering from surgery and ligament injuries.
"Most of our patients are fairly healthy college students, faculty and staff," she said.
The clinic at Ithaca College uses Wii Fit and its balance and core strengthening board more than the traditional Wii sports games since its program is geared toward fitness and health monitoring, Belyea said. Wii-hab also offers an interesting incentive to competitive athletes while they're off the field as the Wii keeps track of everyone's scores.
"[Patients are] competing against each other even though they don't know who each other are," Belyea said.
Still, she's hesitant about using the Wii too much on a college campus and limits the number of therapy sessions patients can use the system.
"I'm cautious not to have it, 'Oh I'm going up to the PT clinic to play the Wii,'" she said.
Belyea and the college's physical therapy department approached junior PT majors about doing research with Wii-hab to look into the system's future in the industry. She said one thing the group may research is how well Wii Fit works compared to a $20,000 balance board traditionally used in therapy. Belyea's also interested in seeing how the newer Wii Fit works its way into rehab programs since it works better for sports therapists, opposed to the Wii games used with children and seniors.
"At both ends of the spectrum [Wii's] useful," Belyea said.
Kolodziejczyk said she's sure Nintendo didn't anticipate this interesting and professional use for one of its gaming systems.
"It was one of those things where you always think of video games as sitting on the couch and doing nothing. And what's great is this is a whole incorporation of mobility," Kolodziejczyk said. "I don't know if Nintendo ever imagined in their lifetime that they'd see adults and senior citizens out shopping for Wii systems."
Many of her patients have looked into getting Wii systems for their homes after therapy sessions, Kolodziejczyk said. One patient came into the clinic for traditional therapy and asked Kolodziejczyk if he could give Wii golf a shot. She help the man, who was learning to walk again, stand up and said he immediately went into his old golfing stance and played a hole from drive to putt.
"His wife was so excited and said, 'Do you know that's the first time he stood steady. He wasn't worried about his posture, he wasn't worried about falling,'" Kolodziejczyk said.
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