Games are dangerous, corrupting, evil things. After all we have been told that playing GTA IV is more harmful to kids than watching porn and drinking beer, and how the Nintendo Wii can cause serious injury to players and observers alike.
Now, it appears, the truth is emerging. A brilliantly uplifting report explains how one-legged patients at Seacroft Hospital in England have been using the Wii for rehabilitation.
Physiotherapists at the hospital have been using Wii Fit and the balance board to help teach new amputees how to use their prosthetic legs. Apparently the balance board gets past the problem that many have with being able to put weight through the false leg by enabling them to see exactly where the weight is going. Wii Skiing has also been used to improve balance and control for these patients.
Meanwhile, that classic game of Tetris has found a place in the first aid box as well. Scientists are claiming that a game of Tetris can help overcome the symptoms associated with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, such as worrying flashbacks for example.
Researchers from Oxford University have described the game as being a cognitive vaccine that prevents painful flashback memories by providing a visiospatial cognitive stimulation for the patient if used in the immediate aftermath of the traumatic event. It would seem that there is a six hour window in which to act, which does rather restrict the possibility of providing the treatment unless the paramedics on scene or doctors in casualty keep a charged up DS in the first aid kit next to the defibrillator.