'Wiihabilitiation': Docs Use Games for Rehab

Anohter great article on the WII.  A few months ago I was laughed at for even suggesting such a thing to be added to a hospital therapy area...now look where we are...many hospitals and physicians are using them...BD

Some call it "Wiihabilitation." Nintendo's Wii video game system, whose popularity already extends beyond the teen gaming set, is fast becoming a craze in rehab therapy for patients recovering from strokes, broken bones, surgery and even combat injuries.....The hospital, about 100 miles southeast of St. Louis, bought a Wii system for rehab patients late last year.  The Hines Veterans Affairs Hospital west of Chicago recently bought a Wii system for its spinal cord injury unit.  At Walter Reed Army Medical Center, the therapy is well-suited to patients injured during combat in Iraq, who tend to be in the 19 to 25 age range a group that's "very into" playing video games, said Lt. Col. Stephanie Daugherty, Walter Reed's chief of occupational WakeMed Health has been using Wii games at its Raleigh, N.C., hospital for patients as young as 9 "all the way up to people in their 80s," said therapist Elizabeth Penny.therapy. 

The usual stretching and lifting exercises that help the sick or injured regain strength can be painful, repetitive and downright boring.

ABC News: 'Wiihabilitiation': Docs Use Games for Rehab

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