Nintendo's Wii Gaming Helps Patients Recovery from Stroke

The Nintendo Wii console has been incorporated into the Riley Hospital’s Tom C. Maynor Rehabilitation Center rehab program for patients who have suffered a stroke. Unlike traditional game consoles, which are controlled by levers and buttons on hand-held devices, the Nintendo Wii is controlled by a remote that is able to sense its position relative to a sensor. This allows the console to be controlled with three-dimensional movement and large-body gestures.

A number of physical therapy programs have begun using the Nintendo Wii gaming system as part of treatments to help people recover from strokes and other central nervous system injuries.One institution using the game system is the Dodd Hall Rehabilitation Hospital, a part of the Ohio State University Medical Center in Columbus. The idea there came from Robbie Winget, who saw a news report about the console's use in a rehabilitation hospital in Canada.