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The interactive Nintendo Wii has helped Parkinson patients with their coordination
A small study by the Medical College of Georgia in the US conducted an experiment on a small group of patients who are suffering from Parkinson’s Disease.
Using a Nintendo Wii console, researchers had patients play a game on the console for an hour at a time to test their reactions and state of mind.
Researchers say they noted marked improvement in hand-eye co-ordination, and they also claimed that participants rate of depression went down to zero (depression ishigh amongst Parkinson’s patients).
Although there was only a control group of 20, and the length of the trail two months, what researchers found interesting was the use of gaming technology being used to help sufferers of what can be a debilitating disease. This comes on the back of a recent report about gaming technology being used to help researchers find out why some babies are
still born.
People who hate gaming tend to think of it as a waste of time – “you should get out more”, “can’t you do something more constructive” is often the catch cry of parents of teenagers who immerse themselves in gaming for hours at a time. But, as these couple of instances show, there is more to gaming than just entertainment value.
This could be just the beginning of technologies used in the entertainment field having a cross-over into other areas, including medicine.
