Occupational therapists use Wii for Parkinson’s study

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It’s Ingrid Bell’s turn at bat. She steps up to the plate, awaiting the pitch. A 70-mph fastball soars toward her. She swings and connects with the ball.
Foul ball! Everyone cheers for her anyway.
This baseball game’s not taking place on a field, and there’s no real bat or ball to be seen. Mrs. Bell is playing the Nintendo Wii as part of her occupational therapy. She is among 30 Parkinson’s disease patients participating in a Medical College of Georgia study to determine if occupational therapy enhances the treatment of the disease.
Parkinson’s disease affects daily tasks that people take for granted. Brushing teeth, getting out of bed and walking become a problem for these patients because of dopamine depletion, which results in stiffness or slowing of movement and fine motor dysfunction...


...Study participants are divided into an experimental group receiving therapy or a control group that does not. Each participant meets individually with an occupational therapist for one hour a week for eight weeks. Participants in both groups are given functional and standardized tests and evaluated on a quality-of-life scale before and after therapy begins, then four months later. The control group has the option to receive therapy after the second evaluation.
“None of the participants have had occupational therapy before because we wanted no preconceived notions of what therapists would do or how they would do it,” Dr. Herz says. “A few participants were probably taken aback when they heard they'd be playing video games.”
But the Wii has been popular with both participants and therapists.
“Because the Wii is interactive and you have to do certain functional movements to be successful, it’s an effective modality for working with Parkinson’s patients,” says Dr. Herz. “One of the therapists uses the Wii for timing and loosening up, and the other uses it for coordination and balance issues.”


...“These therapists are thinking way out of the box. They’re doing activities that will make a difference in these participants’ lives based on what we know about Parkinson’s,” Dr. Herz says.
Early results show at least short-term gains. Therapists set goals for each participant prior to treatment. These goals range from independence with daily living activities, such as cooking, dressing or bathing, to functional activities such as sports and leisure without any adaptation. About 98 percent of those goals have been met or surpassed, Dr. Herz says.

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