Nintendo Wii helps patients with Parkinson's disease

June 14, 4:10 AMDallas Video Game ExaminerAnjelica Deanda

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Photo courtesy of PSFK.

A new eight week study shows that patients who have been playing with the Nintendo Wii have shown an improvement in their mood and more physical function of Parkinson's disease.This disease is a degenerative disease that impairs motor skills. Dr. Ben Herz, program director and assistant professor in the School of Allied Health Sciences Department of Occupational Therapy, has been having his patients play virtual sports games on the Nintendo Wii and has been getting astonishing results.

"The games require visual perception, eye-hand coordination, figure-ground relationships and sequenced movement, so it's a huge treatment tool from an occupational therapy perspective."

The patients showed a significant amount of improvements in movement, motor skills and energy levels, Herz said at the fifth annual Games for Health Conference today in Boston. The progress he was most fond of though, was the fact that their depression level was slowly depleting.

So what is Dr. Ben Herz's plan for the future? He states he is looking towards incorporating the Wii Fit balance board into his program and further extending the patient's progress. Herz has high hopes for the patients and their interactivity with the Nintendo Wii and will most likely look towards video games that require motion control in the future.

"Game systems are the future of rehab," Herz said. "About 60 percent of the study participants decided to buy a Wii for themselves. That speaks volumes for how this made them feel."