Nintendo Wii May Help Cerebral Palsy Patients
A new case study published in Physical Therapy Journal shows promise for the use of gaming technology, specifically Nintendo Wii, to enhance rehabilitation in cerebral palsy patients.
The study focused on the case of an adolescent with spastic diplegia, and was conducted over the course of a summer.For the study, the teen participated in 11 training sessions between 60 and 90 minutes long. Various Wii games were used for the training, including:
- boxing,
- bowling,
- tennis, and
- golf.
Two of the training sessions involved multiplayer games, and the boy trained in both sitting and standing positions. Researchers measured progress in visual perception processing, posture control and functional mobility and found improvements in each of these areas.
This is believed to be the first published study of its kind and suggests that additional research is necessary in the area of readily available gaming technology for cerebral palsy rehabilitation.
Previous research has focused on the use of virtual reality programs for stimulating movement in cerebral palsy patients, but such technology is costly and takes time to develop. However, interactive gaming systems like Wii are relatively low-cost and can be purchased commercially.
Still, researchers note that gaming is not a replacement for physical therapy, but it may be a viable complement.
