Wii-hab - Play Two of These and Call Me in the Morning
Half of the time, the call would be over after that. Whoever was on the line was just looking for a Wii. But for some, the Wii wasn’t the in demand system. As most of us over here at AbleGamers know, the Wii hasn’t exactly been the friendliest to the disabled gamer. Its motion-based controls leave many people unable to play.
Recently, there has been a new trend helping to give the Wii a better name for gamers with disabilities. Facilities across the nation, the Wii is starting to be used as a supplement to occupational and physical therapies. "Wii-hab," as is has been referred to, is being used to help people suffering from the symptoms of Cerebral Palsy, Parkinson's, stroke, and even tendon and muscle injuries. Wii-hab is said to help with range of motion, coordination, reflexes, timing and even problem solving.
I sat down to learn more with Kimberly Voelker, a volunteer with Carle Foundation Therapy Services who was recently admitted to SLU's OT masters program. First, she explained to me how Carle Foundation was using the Wii during her time volunteering with them.
"It uses Wii sports as a supplement to the patient's normal therapy. It's not a replacement," Kim said. To be specific, they were using the boxing, tennis, baseball and bowling modes. A patient would begin by doing about fifteen minutes of his or her normal therapy, followed by Wii-hab.
The supplemental Wii-hab session normally consisted of playing the before mentioned sport modes in either the trial modes or against their trainer or volunteer, such as Kim.
Kim was very fond of Wii-hab, and began to tell me about the benefits that she had seen first had. "It can be really fun versus traditional therapy," she pointed out.
As anyone who has gone through therapy can agree, most times the sessions can be boring and painful. Patients were enjoying themselves a lot more with the Wii. Kim said there were a few reasons this was happening.
"You often get to compete with someone," she explained, and any time you make something a game it becomes more entertaining and turns on your urge to win. Further more, "The game has built in levels and motivation in the trial modes." You can actually see you progress in clear, easy to define scores.
Furthermore, Kim said that the motions that patients were learning while playing with the Wii were motions that they would be able to apply to situations outside of therapy in the real world. She used the example of Cooking Mama.
If you learn to do the cutting motion in the game, you've almost got it down for the real world. "Skills learned using the Wii may be more easily generalized from game to real life because the Wii stimulates auditory, visual, and tactile. This means that information is coming into the brain through almost all available circuits, like it would in real life," she explained.
"Another good thing about the Wiis is they are relatively cheap, especially when compared to previous products used for home therapy," Kim continued.
Now, Wiis are easy to get a hold of. A patient can easily buy one at a local retail store, and be Wii-habing on their own. And when their therapy sessions are over, they would still be able to use their system to continue training in addition for fun for the whole family. If the Wii is something you were using in your therapy, it can really be a good investment for your home.
"Although Wii-hab is new, it is really catching on," Kim told me. She was right; using the Nintendo Wii for a compliment to traditional therapy is new. In fact, most of the evidence for it is anecdotal, as only a handful of studies have been conducted. Kim was able to show me a few though, and all of them seemed to be in support of Wii as a new therapy tool.
The first one she showed me was from Dr. Ben Herz, which stated that Wii-hab was helping treat symptoms of Parkinson's, including depression. In his study, twenty people affected by Parkinson's played Wii Sports three times a week for four weeks. The end of the study showed amazing results.
The participants of the study showed major improvements in movement, energy levels, fine motor skills, and lowered their depression levels next to nothing. It's estimated that over 50% of Parkinson's patients suffer from depression, so this was a huge find.
Kim was able to explain to me why the Wii was helping with these patients depression.
"Video games and exercise independently have been shown to increase dopamine, a chemical in the brain associated with pleasure, reinforcement and aggression, which is depleted in patients with Parkinson's,” she continued. “The Wii may be a unique combination of mental and physical activity that can help people with Parkinson's cope with the loss of the neurotransmitter."
The study also reinforced a point that Kim had already made to me. The Wii is a cheap commercial product that patients can buy and take home. In fact, about 60 percent of the people involved in this study bought a Wii after the study was over.
As Dr. Herz said, "That speaks volumes for this made them feel."
The other study tested to see if the Wii supplement to physical and occupational would be able to help a young teen with his Spastic Diplegic Cerebral Palsy. At the end of the four-week period, he showed improvements in several areas, including visual-perceptual processing, posture control, and functional mobility.
Kim believes that more studies will only reflect what she has been personally seeing during her volunteering with Carle. She also thinks that the use of the Will grow, and really suspects that using the Wii balance board will begin to play a important role as well.
Although the Wii hasn't been the most AbleGamer friendly, it's nice to see that people are finally finding away use make the system not only useful, but also helpful for the disabled gamer community.
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If anyone would like to read the studies I talked about, you can do so at these links. 
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/06/090611120744.htm
http://ihealthbulletin.com/blog/2008/09/25/nintendo-wii-may-help-cerebral-palsy-rehabilitation/
