Competitive virtual sports and “Wii-habilitation” offer fun, fitness and healing for all ages.

By Lucy Jokiel

I jabbed with my right hand, but my son Jon shouted, “Punch with your left.”
 
“Hit him in the face,” yelled my 11-year-old grandson, Kona.
 
I threw a one-two punch and my opponent staggered against the ropes. In the next round, he went down for the count.
 
“Can we play tennis now?” my 12-year-old granddaughter, Kawai, pleaded.
 
With the flick of a hand-held wireless remote, my 50-inch, flat-screen TV turned into a tennis court. Using the same arm swings required by tennis players, Kawai and I could actually watch and hear the tennis ball hit the court and listen to the roar from the crowd when we scored a point.
 
Soon my living room was packed with kids and adults of all ages, including a next-door neighbor curious about all the yelling. I woke up the next day with sore muscles, but the discomfort left as soon as Kona challenged me to a game of bowling. He won. But in the fishing game, I whupped him by catching more than a dozen virtual fish.

The brainchild of Nintendo, the Wii interactive video game system hit the U.S. market in late 2006. Initially popular among teens and adults, this digital craze has become wildly popular in retirement communities and senior centers in Hawai‘i and nationwide.

It’s doubtful that the Wii can turn couch potatoes into virtual super-jocks, but many doctors and physical therapists are recommending “Wii-habilitation” to help patients recover from strokes, surgeries, broken bones and combat injuries. They say it especially helps elderly patients improve their cardiovascular fitness, balance and aerobic strength. “I have so much fun with the Wii that I no longer consider PT as ‘pain and torture,’” says one elderly resident of the Arcadia Retirement Residence.

The Wii Fit program directs you to stand on a balance board containing a built-in, wireless scale that measures your body mass index and center of balance. (Nobody told me that details about my weight and performance would be flashed onto the screen for everyone to see.) By moving my trunk muscles and bending my knees, I skied down a mountain. Then I played soccer and jogged on a twisting path through the woods. One of the Wii’s best features is that it’s relatively easy to install. At least, that’s what my grandkids said.

But there are some safety concerns. Gamers’ Thumb or Wiiitis – a condition developed after spending many hours playing Wii games – involves shoulder pain that could become acute tendonitis, a common affliction among tennis players.

Sports medicine specialist, Jeffrey Harpstrite, M.D., tells his patients to regularly practice isometric exercises on the Wii to improve their general strength and conditioning. “It’s also good for non-athletes,” says Harpstrite, who has a Wii at home for his 10- and 6-year-old children. “My wife is a pediatrician who generally doesn’t approve of video games, but she says the Wii is helpful and good for socialization.”

Now that my living room has turned into an intergenerational digital recreation center, I am faced with two dilemmas: How do I pry the Wii from the clutches of my eager-to-play family and friends? And, after reading that Britain’s 84-year-old monarch is addicted to playing the Wii, I am worried about developing the same affliction. Oh well. Maybe obsessed Wii fans like me can go into Wii-hab.