Nintendo Wii Console (Black) with Wii Fit Plus and Balance Board + Motion Plus Controller (Wii)

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Dougherty J, Kancel A, Ramar C, Meacham C, Derrington S: The effects of a multi-axis balance board intervention program in an elderly population. Mo Med 2011, 108: 128-132. Billis AS, Konstantinidis EI, Mouzakidis C, Tsolaki MN, Pappas C, Bamidis PD: A Game-Like Interface for Training Seniors’ Dynamic Balance and Coordination. In IFMBE Proceedings Edited by: Bamidis PD, Pallikarakis N. 2010, 691-694. Kanegaonkar RG, Amin K, Clarke M: The contribution of hearing to normal balance. J Laryngol Otol 2012, 126: 984-988. 10.1017/S002221511200179X This frustrated Osu, because the Wii Fit avatars weren’t very accurate. “Body types are so different,” she said, noting that “just because you got a certain score doesn’t mean you look a certain way, yanno?” Nintendo wants to make exercise easy and fun. At least, that’s the message the company tries to broadcast through health-conscientious developments like step counters and memory games. The Wii, which got people off the couch and moving, was the perfect encapsulation of that ongoing concern with wellness. And Wii Fit, a video game ostensibly about health, was a logical progression of Nintendo’s fitness games. But sometimes, good intentions aren’t enough.Koslucher F, Wade MG, Nelson B, Lim K, Chen FC, Stoffregen TA: Nintendo Wii Balance Board is sensitive to effects of visual tasks on standing sway in healthy elderly adults. Gait Posture 2012, 36: 605-608. 10.1016/j.gaitpost.2012.05.027 Lange B, Flynn S, Proffitt R, Chang CY, Rizzo AS: Development of an interactive game-based rehabilitation tool for dynamic balance training. Top Stroke Rehabil 2010, 17: 345-352. 10.1310/tsr1705-345

Esculier JF, Vaudrin J, Beriault P, Gagnon K, Tremblay LE: Home-based balance training programme using Wii Fit with balance board for Parkinsons's disease: a pilot study. J Rehabil Med 2012, 44: 144-150. 10.2340/16501977-0922Williams BDNL, Bender A, Mattox H, Tibbs JR: The effect of Nintendo Wii on Balance: A Pilot Study Supporting the Use of the Wii in Occupational Therapy for the Well Elderly. Occup Ther Health Care 2011, 25: 131-139. 10.3109/07380577.2011.560627

Zettergren K, Franca J, Antunes M, Lavallee C: The effects of Nintendo Wii Fit training on gait speed, balance, functional modility and depression in one person with Parkinson's disease. Med Health Sci J 2011, 9: 18-24. The Wii Fit software includes several means of assessing balance ability. Once the Wii Fit software is loaded, participants are first encouraged to perform a “body test” that comprises both “center of balance” and “body control” measures of balance control. In the center of balance assessment, participants stand still on the WBB for 7 s while COP data is collected. From this data, the participant’s average COP deviation from body midline is calculated, indicating a measure of weight bearing asymmetry. Overall, this assessment is thought to provide information about body posture with the assumption that having an equal distribution of weight between left and right legs is ideal. That danger is reflected in testimonies from Osu and others online. “When friends would come round to play, I would tell them that the Wii Fit board was broken because I didn’t want them to see what it said,” Osu told Polygon. Deutsch JE, Robbins D, Morrison J, Guarrera Bowlby P: Wii-Based Compared to Standard of Care Balance and Mobility Rehabilitation for Two Individuals Post-Stroke. Virtual Rehabilitation International Conference; Haifa 2009, 117-120. At the time, the Wii was Nintendo’s flagship console. Unlike its competitors, its games didn’t require mastery of buttons or controllers, and could be played by nearly anyone due to its intuitive motion controls. This, along with the general popularity of the console, made Wii games the go-to game for many social gatherings. By extension, Wii Fit’s profiles were more visible than perhaps Nintendo anticipated.When it comes to talking to people about weight, the words we use matter,” Dr. Puhl said. During research, she found that in both adolescence and adults, words like obese or fat can lead to feelings of shame. Rather than labeling a patient as obese, her team of researchers recommend that doctors default to using neutral words that don’t suggest a moral judgement or failing. When friends would come round to play, I would tell them that the Wii Fit board was broken because I didn’t want them to see what it said.”

Reed-Jones RJ, Dorgo S, Hitchings MK, Bader JO: WiiFit Plus balance test scores for the assessment of balance and mobility in older adults. Gait Posture 2012, 36: 430-433. 10.1016/j.gaitpost.2012.03.027 Clark RA, McGough R, Paterson K: Reliability of an inexpensive and portable dynamic weight bearing asymmetry assessment system incorporating dual Nintendo Wii Balance Boards. Gait Posture 2011, 34: 288-291. 10.1016/j.gaitpost.2011.04.010 Clark RA, Bryant AL, Pua Y, McCrory P, Bennell K, Hunt M: Validity and reliability of the Nintendo Wii Balance Board for assessment of standing balance. Gait Posture 2010, 31: 307-310. 10.1016/j.gaitpost.2009.11.012 Meldrum D, Glennon A, Herdman S, Murray D, McConn-Walsh R: Virtual reality rehabilitation of balance: assessment of the usability of the Nintendo Wii((R)) Fit Plus. Disabil Rehabil Assist Technol 2012, 7: 205-210. 10.3109/17483107.2011.616922Berg KO, Wood-Dauphinee SL, Williams JI, Maki B: Measuring balance in the elderly: validation of an instrument. Can J Public Health 1992, 83(Suppl 2):S7-S11. Hanneton S: Coaching the Wii: Evaluation of a physical training experiment assisted by a video game. Haptic, Audio, Visual Environments and Games; Lecco, Italy 2009, 54-57. In these equations TR, TL, BR and BL are the force sensor values from the top right, top left, bottom right and bottom left corners of the WBB. This information, along with total downward force (i.e. vertical ground reaction force), is transmitted with minimal time lag to the Wii console via wireless (i.e. Bluetooth) technology.