Wii Puts High-Tech Spin On Physical Therapy
Published: 2010-07-05 06:53:11By: Doug Dunbar | CBS 11 | March 11, 2010
Joshua Ress goes to the gym, moving slowly in a wheelchair. The 28-year-old paramedic was healthy and working to help others until a few weeks ago. "I was at my apartment and I collapsed," he said. Hospital tests diagnosed Ress with endocarditis, or inflammation in his heart. "The mitral valve disintegrated and parts of it had floated into the bloodstream and up to my brain and caused a stroke."
"It is kind of scary," Ress said. "One day you're healthy and the next day you're having emergency heart surgery."
To help with a weakened left hand and foot, Ress turned to a different kind of physical therapy. Several people use video games like "Wii Fit" to keep their bodies active, but the same technology is now taking steps into rehabilitation, and having dramatic results.
Ress works to improve his balance, strength and endurance by playing with a Nintendo Wii video game console. "I can definitely tell I'm using muscles that I don't really hit in any other exercises," he said.
Recreation therapist Carrie Redmon explained that exercise-based video games can also help patients with fine motor coordination and range of motion.
Each patient has specific goals for different muscles and movements, Redmon said. "If they are not able to stand or put any weight on their legs," she explained, "a lot of times I find the bowling or just a lot of the seated games work well."
"I think our activities just take their mind off of either the pain or the fact that they are really tired," said Redmon. "Then, by the end of the session, they have not even realized that they have been working."
Redmon has seen major improvements, especially with brain injury patients. "Sometimes they will start doing seated games and exercises with the Wii," she said, "and then by the time they are ready to leave, they will be up on the 'Wii Fit' Balance Board."
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