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New Video Games Can Help Seniors Regain Movement

Posted on: Wednesday, 26 December 2007, 06:00 CST

Video games have the reputation as obesity-inducing, brain-cell-destroying, violence-generating wastes of time.

Don't count 90-year-old Mary Meyer or 72-year-old Larry Gowin among those believers.

For Meyer and Gowin, a new generation of video games may actually help them regain the movement and freedom stolen by illness and injury.

Last week, Meyer, recovering from a severe leg infection, was standing with a walker in front of a large, flat-screen TV in the rehabilitation room at Copley Health Center, bowling with the Nintendo Wii video-game system. Gowin, recovering from hip replacement surgery, played tennis.

No bowling balls or tennis rackets were part of the therapy, just the hand-held Wii controller. With a swing of the controller, Meyer, of Hinckley, earned a few spares, but no strikes. Gowin, of Barberton, smacked forehands and backhands across the net.

The value, though, wasn't in whether they got strikes or hit a winning shot near the baseline. The value was simply that they were standing up.

Gowin, three weeks after his surgery, still has a hard time standing, said Jason Joyner, the center's rehab manager.

But with the Wii, Joyner said, "he's not thinking about standing. He's not thinking about watching the clock. He's just up there banging the tennis ball."

Gowin's physical therapist, Amanda Beltz, applauded his eight-minute tennis match.

"He was standing two or three times longer than he's been able to before," she said. "I'm impressed."

Because the Wii (pronounced "wee") forces players to get up and move as a way to control the action on the screen, it has become a tool for some physical therapists. A rehabilitation hospital in Alberta, Canada, was the first to gain attention for using the Wii in therapy. About four months ago, Ohio State University Medical Center's rehabilitation hospital began using the game.

Nintendo had been pitching the Wii to older generations by partnering with Florida retirement communities and setting up a booth at last year's AARP Life@50+ event in Anaheim.

Those are largely healthy populations, though.

At Copley Health Center, a skilled nursing facility owned by Communicare, the typical patient has been in the hospital for a few weeks and is at Copley for rehabilitation before going home or to an assisted living facility.

"When we see our patients," Joyner said, "their biggest deficits are strength and balance."

The goal is to get patients to the point that they are strong enough to walk safely, get up out of a chair on their own, stand at the kitchen counter, stand in the shower and perform other daily activities.

Before Wii, patients might stand at a waist-high table to work on a puzzle, or stand and bounce a ball or balloon back and forth.

Unlike a puzzle, the Wii requires users to swing their arms, putting more muscles to use. As the arms swing, the body must compensate and use muscles to keep its center of balance. And as the patients improve, they begin to take small steps while playing instead of keeping their feet stationary. Not to mention, it's fun, Joyner said, which can offer a distraction for the patient.

"I enjoyed it," Gowin said. "The game requires hand-eye coordination, as well as balance and being able to stand up. Those three things pretty much determine whether you can play the game or not."

Those three things also help determine how soon patients can get home.

Though Meyer admits it took her a few minutes to get used to the controller, she sees the Wii as a good addition to her therapy.

"It helped me greatly," she said after nearly 10 minutes of bowling. "I think it's great. It keeps the arms and muscles moving, so that's good."

Tracy Wheeler can be reached at 330-996-3721 or tawheeler@thebeaconjournal.com.

Source: By Tracy Wheeler, The Akron Beacon Journal, Ohio

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