Published: September 05, 2008 03:14 pm            

Wii as Therapy

Game system finding its way in nursing homes, rehab centers

San Marcos —



Stepping off from the rectangular Wii platform, Timothy Castaneda turns to his physical therapist.

“How are you feeling? Are you tired?” Kirk Painter, P.T., certified MDT and co-owner of local clinic PTRC asks him.

“Yeah, that did take a lot out of me,” Castaneda says.

“Alright man, I’ll give you a break.”

Castaneda recently broke his ankle and is rehabbing at PTRC to get his muscles back into form. He never imagined his exercise might involve playing a Wii, the popular simulation-style, hands-on video game console from Nintendo.

“I didn’t really know what to think of it at first, I figured it would be fun,” Castaneda said after his session. “But once I got on it, I was like ‘man, this is a lot harder than I actually thought.’”

PTRC introduced the Wii Therapy as a rehab component a week ago, and it is showing that the game isn’t just for kids, and may no long be just for entertainment purposes. The Physical Therapy Department at Texas State University recently conducted a study examining the positive impact playing the Wii could have on the elderly and disabled.

And their findings? The Wii works out a lot more than just your thumbs.

The Nintendo Wii console offers simulated sports games like bowling and tennis,, as well as specialty programs like Wii Fitness, which offers activities ranging from balance exercises to push-ups. The distinguishing component is a wireless controller that allows the person to simulate the action on the screen.

“It’s not just a video game. When people are unsure about using it, I typically have them try it. And once they do, everyone says ‘that’s a lot harder than I thought,’” Painter said. “We’re accomplishing the same types of the things (as other rehab exercises) but the patient is looking more forward to therapy and having fun.”

While early trials are encouraging, Shannon Williams, clinic director for the Texas State University Physical Therapy Clinic,s says that there’s no real research yet to prove the Wii’s usefulness in a professional setting. But the potential is definitely there.

“What’s needed are studies to provide its effectiveness. The potential is there, but right now the studies are not,” Williams said.

Williams headed the study recently done at Texas State. Participants, picked from the Springtown Villa Retirement Home, were asked to play sports Wii games for 20 minutes twice a week for nine weeks. Along the way the researchers measured balance, over-all quality of life and depression. Balance did improve among the participants, as did overall quality of life. No clinical gains were made on depression, Williams said.

“This was kind of a pirate study,” WIlliams said. “We hope we can continue with this study. Before we started, I had seen the Wii on TV and I knew people who had played it. It sounded like a great idea.”

Williams said that they maintained 100 percent attendance through the whole study — a rare occurrence for research projects involving fitness.

“I was surprised by just how much they enjoyed playing it. They were definitely having a lot of fun... And the bowling game was by far the most popular,” Williams said.

Painter bought a Wii for his kids a few months ago, and almost simultaneously he says he saw them popping up in professional Physical Therapy journals. Immediately after he tried it, he knew it might end up in his clinic.

Painter figured it would be especially helpful with the “unmotivated” patients, he says.

“The people who say I’m not much of an exerciser, I don’t like to do exercise, can I go home?’” Painter said. “It’s something they can look forward to... If patients don’t enjoy themselves, we (PTRC) don’t survive.”

For PTRC patients like Castaneda, it’s a welcome, entertaining addition to his rehab. But that doesn’t mean it was easy.

“They had me doing some squats over there, and those seemed like a breeze compared to this,” Castaneda said.





ABOUT THE WII



The Wii is a hands-on gaming system by Nintendo that puts the player in a virtual reality-like setting. The game’s actions are dictated by the player’s actual body movements.

A distinguishing feature of the console is its wireless controller, the Wii Remote, which can be used as a handheld pointing device and detect movement in three dimensions.

        

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