Doctors use Nintendo Wii in therapy treatment

American doctors are using Nintendo's popular Wii video game system as rehabilitation therapy for patients recovering from strokes, broken bones, surgery and even combat injuries.

Such patients require intensive physical therapy, which they often complain is repetitive, boring and sometimes painful.

	A patient plays a Wii video game as part of his physical theraphy regime

But medics have found "Wiihabilitation" to be an excellent substitute as the game's motion-sensitive controller requires body movements similar to traditional therapy but provides so much distraction patients do not notice the discomfort.

"In the Wii system, because it's kind of a game format, it does create this kind of inner competitiveness.

"Even though you may be boxing or playing tennis against some figure on the screen, it's amazing how many of our patients want to beat their opponent," said James Osborn, who oversees rehabilitation services at Herrin Hospital in southern Illinois.

The hospital bought a Wii system for rehab patients late last year. "When people can refocus their attention from the tediousness of the physical task, oftentimes they do much better," Mr Osborn said.

Although Nintendo does not market Wii's potential use in physical therapy, a company spokesman, said it was "happy to see that people are finding added benefit in rehabilitation".

The most popular Wii games in rehab involve sports  baseball, bowling, boxing, golf and tennis.

Mimicking the arm swings used in these sports, players wave a wireless controller that directs the actions of animated athletes on the screen.

The Hines Veterans Affairs Hospital west of Chicago recently bought a Wii system for its spinal cord injury unit while at the Walter Reed Army Medical Centre, in Washington DC, the therapy is used on many patients injured during combat in Iraq.

WakeMed Health has been using Wii games at its Raleigh, North Carolina, hospital for patients as young as nine "all the way up to people in their 80s," said therapist Elizabeth Penny.

"They're getting improved endurance, strength, coordination. I think it's very entertaining for them," she said.

Researchers at Abbott Northwestern Hospital in Minneapolis are working with the University of Minnesota to design a study to measure how patients' function are affected by Wii therapy.