Wii-hab
This entry was created by a student in Stanford's Rhetoric of Gaming class. For more about the class and the assignment, click here.
For my research paper, I will be looking into video games (specifically the Wii) and how they are used in physiotherapy and rehab. Nintendo Wii was released in 2006 and completely changed the gaming world. It applied movement and activity into gaming, appealing not just to teens but older generations as well. The more popular Wii games, as well as the ones most commonly used in therapy and rehab, are Wii sports and Wii fitness. These games are used as rehab for patients ranging from injured athletes, to stroke survivors, to combat wounded soldiers.
I began my research before I even knew about this research paper.
Over the summer, I was in physical therapy and noticed a Wii being used for patients recovering from leg and ankle/foot injuries. Wii fitness was the game they were using utilizing an electronic board to sense shifts in balance. The minigames being played were puzzle games where the patient had to tilt a virtual board by tilting the electronic board in order to guide marbles through holes in the virtual board. I tried to get the therapist to let me play the Wii instead of other exersizes, but he did not go for that.
I e-mailed the head physical therapist to see if he would help me by explaining how the Wii is used in his office. He referred me to one of his employees who he referred to as the Wii specialist. Personally, I don't think that there is a specific position in the office dedicated to Wii-hab, but this one therapist will know a lot more about the Wii in therapy than anyone else in the office. I am still waiting to hear back form him.
In the mean time, I stumbled across a website call Wiihabilitation http://www.wiihabilitation.co.uk/. Wiihabilitation is a website dedicated to promoting the use of Wii systems in therapy offices around the world. It lists games for the Wii and even delves into which aspects of a certain game help to rehab different parts of the body. In short, Wiihabilitation servers as a database to find which game should be used in specific cases. Wiihabilitation also looks into research because currently there is no scientific evidence to support the effectiveness of Wii in rehab. However, there are undergoing studies that are testing Wii's effectiveness in rehab.
Comments
Kevin,
Good title. Very catchy. This is a very interesting topic, I really had no idea that they used the Wii for physical therapy.
I believe this topic is specific enough already, but it wouldn't hurt to try and have a specific thesis in mind before you start to write the paper. I think the site "Wiihabilitation" could be very useful, but you definitely need more sources. Obviously the library workshop provided a lot of good places to find sources, so be sure to use that to your full advantage.
I think it would be interesting if you looked into the possible future applications of the Wii for rehab and physical therapy and anything else in the medical world (I think someone else is doing application of the Wii in the medical world).
Posted by: Matt Kandath | October 13, 2009 09:52 PM
This topic is very interesting. It seems as if video games nowadays are not just only entertainment anymore, but it has become a part of our culture as well. So now we can see games becoming many things. I think you need more sources like the comment above. I think they will be a bit hard to find because your topic is very specific, but I am sure you will be able to find really good ones about this.
Posted by: pong | October 14, 2009 12:10 AM
I'm fascinated by this project and by the way that videogaming has been co-opted in many ways by the nongaming community. This reminds me of what happened with DDR years back (and I think is still happening now) where DDR is being used in phys ed classes as a mode of getting today's students physically fit. In fact, I believe that the American version came with a calorie-burner option, whereas that wasn't present in the original Japanese version, showing how DDR was being used in multiple ways in the US.
If you find that you are not uncovering enough sources just about WiiHab (I love that phrase too!) you might broaden out the paper a bit to consider DDR and possible other health-related applications of gaming platforms.
Good luck!
Posted by: Christine Alfano, Stanford | October 17, 2009 06:45 AM
I definitely agree that the title is great! I also find it interesting that they use the wii, but not surprising. I think that it makes a lot of sense to try and use something fun like video games in physical therapy because it will distract patients who may be in pain when using traditional forms of therapy.
What do you think are the advantages of the wii in therapy versus other forms of therapy?
It might be difficult to find sources on this because it sounds like its very new and not much has been written about it yet. I think it's a lot of fun to write about this though because just from the proposal, I want to know more.
Posted by: Marlen | October 19, 2009 10:59 PM
If you are just starting out on therapy then try and get the cheapest console and wii hames the best place is wii console
Posted by: James Anderson | October 24, 2009 03:55 AM
I totally agree with all the comments above about the title. It's very eye-catching. Wiis are being used for everything lately. It is being used for entertainment, exercising and now physical therapy. Will the use of Wiis vs. traditional physical therapy help heal people faster? It sounds a lot cheaper to have Wiis in therapy offices. I like this idea.Playing video games can be very therapeutic and helpful to anyone. It sounds fun but how exactly will you explore it? I think it is a great idea to research.
Posted by: Cristy | October 25, 2009 01:58 PM
That's a great idea to use the Wii for physical therapy. Maybe this can help them motivated since it is something fun to do.
Posted by: Robert Kuramoto | November 4, 2009 01:17 PM
This is fantastic, I had no idea that they were doing this. You got me thinking, I used to help a friend take care of her autistic child and she would calm down and gain better motor control when she was listening to music. So I began to wonder if wii rockband could help someone like her with motor skills since both music and activity are involved. I imagine there are a number of possibilities to explore when using games like these for therapy.
Posted by: Gloria | November 26, 2009 06:53 PM
I am simply curious what technilogical improvements/advances were made to playstation 2 that is justifying this rush on finding PS3s. Is it just that they are made for high def TVs like xbox 360? This curious mind just wants to know!
Posted by: SheedePhobrezed | November 27, 2009 05:22 PM
I have a ps3 but i don't know much about the trophies. I was wondering what games have them and how to get them. Also when is playstation home coming out and how do you get it?
Posted by: SheedePhobrezed | November 28, 2009 12:49 AM
I hadn't thought about using the wii for rehab, but it makes perfect sense! Thanks for passing along the idea!
Posted by: Mark DeAnda, P.T. | November 28, 2009 03:58 PM