Learning to use a lower-limb prosthesis can be a profoundly trying process, but at Seacroft Hospital, Leeds, England, some prosthesis-training sessions are all fun and games. According to the Cross Gates Today newspaper, Seacroft's physiotherapists now incorporate sessions on the Wii Fit videogame console into the rehabilitation and physical therapy of people with amputations.
Senior physiotherapist Lynn Hirst, who initiated the program, said that the Wii Fit's Balance Board console allows patients to visually see their center of gravity, have immediate feedback on their progress, and skip the tedium of certain kinds of physical therapy. Many Wii Fit games resemble conventional physical therapy exercises, and offer similar benefits. For example, Wii Fit's skiing game trains patients to coordinate their natural and prosthetic limbs while refining their balance and learning movement control. Hirst told Cross Gates Today, "The most difficult thing for a prosthetic patient is getting their weight through the prosthetic limb. With the Balance Board, it shows them where they are taking their weight through.... To back that up, there's some very lively games which make them take their weight right or left, forward or back, and that improves their core stability and their balance."
Hirst said of the program's success, "It's been absolutely fantastic.... It's a format that the younger patients know straight away, and we've actually had a lady in her 90s who was fascinated by it." David Crossland, a 60-year-old patient of Hirst's, calls the Wii therapy "marvelous," adding that "it makes sure you have got your balance."
Seacroft Hospital is the first institution in England to adopt the system, according to Cross Gates Today.
