My wife just got herself a Wii Fit. She loves it and this is a truly amazing thing.
Those of you who don’t know her won’t appreciate the magnitude of this revelation. You see, my wife has had a long standing aversion to exercise. She hates to sweat. So I chalked up her Wii Fit purchase as another item that I would soon find relegated to the basement next to the exercise bike and the total gym.
But — the Wii Fit has something that every other home exercise device lacks — it’s a game, too!
The device comes with a balance board which is basically a step aerobics step with some built in pressure sensors. When you stand on it, the Wii can detect how well you maintain your center of balance, your approximate weight, and when coupled with a few prompts from the TV screen, will output your BMI score (Body Mass Index).
You can choose from a variety of exercise options like yoga, aerobics, and strength training and the device tracks your time in each exercise and as you exercise more, gives your the option of unlocking new exercises and games to try out.
Not only that, you can track your progress toward a goal, watch your BMI increase or decrease on the calendar and track your progress against other members of your family. You can also choose to lock your profile, too, so that no one else can see your numbers.
What does this mean for the health care profession? Think about the difficulty in motivating patients for physical therapy, ambulation, and being more active in general. Put a Wii fit in the room and have the patient just do basic balance exercises. Perhaps just doing some yoga stretches from side to side while deep breathing. Open up those alveoli folks and decrease incidence of pulmonary complications and pneumonia during recovery!
I’m excited because this is one of those things that can be easily adapted to a variety of settings and cultures. It’s just programming. The music and other items can be easily adjusted to meet any group’s needs. I’m looking forward to seeing how innovators in the hospital setting bring this unique device into their setting and do some research to see if it is indeed as effective as I think it will be.
Sure, Wii Fit can be a fun item for your home, but it can also become a great tool for nursing excellence, too!
I don’t know about you but I was pretty amazed by how easily I broke a sweat the first time I played with my kids Wii. It’s been a lot of fun and led to a more than a few sore muscles.
So I wasn’t surprised by this story on the popularity of the Nintendo Wii with rehab facilities. They are using the game system to work with CVA patients, orthopedic patients, and soldiers wounded in combat.
The primary advantage mentioned in the article: No boredom! Instead of the series of boring, repetitive lifting and range of motion exercises, patients can now play games with the same movements and range included in the game play.
Physical and occupational therapists see the benefit in the eagerness of their patients to return to the game to defeat their opponents or reach a higher score. Instead of having to urge and convince patients to work harder, these therapists are having to urge and convince them to stop.
The lesson here for all medical professionals is to think outside of the box and use new technology in new ways to reach the old goals.
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My wife just got herself a Wii Fit. She loves it and this is a truly amazing thing.
