Wii Introduces a Different Aspect of Video Game Injuries
Dr.Happy Lantin | Feb 09, 2010 | Comments 0
In the advent of video game technology, more advanced type of video games emerged into the market. When it comes to breakthrough video gaming, Nintendo Wii interactive video game comes to mind among most individuals nowadays. It was on 2006 when Nintendo Wii was introduced as a highly interactive game which allows players to participate physically in the games and sports using not just their fingers but also using hand and arm movements same as the full arm swing when using tennis racquets. Due to the Wii’s highly interactive nature and more advanced body participation in video gaming, there is a rise of health concerns regarding its preponderance towards physical injuries. In this manner, the evolving nature of video games places great influential change to the mechanism of video game injuries. What is more interesting about recent reports of video game injuries is the involvement of not only the hand ligaments and tendons but also the inclusion of foot injuries which is acquired while playing Wii.
In the February 4, 2010 issue of England Journal of Medicine, Karen A. Eley, a plastic surgery resident and doctoral candidate at Oxford Radcliffe noted how previous type of games commonly presented with hand ligament injuries from hand-held controls. She even reported that now injuries seem to affect any region of the body. She stated in her commentary how the so called “Nintendinitis” during the 1990s became common which is described as thumb tendon pain, has paved its way to more increasing cases of foot-related injuries in the advent of Wii interactive game popularity. In fact Eley stated that other clinicians began to encounter patients with what they coined as “Wiiitis.”
The increased risk of fall injuries can be a result of the introduction of Wii Fit balance boards which are pressure-sensitive board that are raised 2 inches above the ground and are functionally designed to improve balance. It also allow players to control movements via balancing positions like twisting and turning. This balance board may replace handheld controls in video gaming activities. However, let us not forget the controversy behind the possibility that a new kind of video game injury is being introduced by this video game device.
New England Journal of Medicine noted a case of a healthy 14-year-old girl in the United Kingdom who sustained a right foot fracture when she fell from a Wii Fit balance board. Karen Eley of Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals NHS Trust in Oxford, England also reported other cases of Wii-associated injuries for which include traumatic hemothorax (due to fall while playing), dislocations, and head injuries (bumped with another player).
It is indeed true that in every video game with increased physical activity there is always a risk for more physical injuries involved. Everyone should be aware of hazardous risks involved when playing Wii or any highly interactive video games in order to control accidents and injuries.
Since most of acquired video game players are mostly children; parents and other individuals should always take into consideration the safety issues at hand when using such video games. Moreover, parents should instill discipline and impose moderation on playing video games so that kids will not associate video games as the center of their lives.
Although there are video game injuries involved with Wii, it is still worth noting how these cases can still be prevented. Measures of prevention can only be achieved if one understands first the gaming instructions carefully before playing and also when safety is observed at all times. In a nutshell, knowledge of gaming instructions and safety concerns are the key to decrease the risk of video game injuries.
REFERENCES:
http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=112977
http://news.health.com/2010/02/03/wii-popularity-leads-new-kind-gaming-injury/
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