Game consoles can help patient rehabilitation

Research from the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey suggests that 11 training sessions, of around 60-90 minutes long, led to improvements in visual perception processing, postural control and functional mobility.

The patient was a 13-year-old boy with spastic diplegic cerebral palsy and the report, from the journal Physical Therapy, is the first published on using the Wii for rehabilitation, despite several press reports about its use in a clinical setting.

Lead author of the study Judith Deutsch is excited by the potential of the Wii for treatment purposes. She said she is hopeful that the Wii, ‘is going to be useful even though it was not specifically designed for rehabilitation.’

‘We’re really just learning the system’s possibilities as well as its limits,’ she added.

Researchers will now begin a more widespread study of the games console, beginning by analysing the effects of the Wii Fit game for post-stroke victims.

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