Can Wii slow Parkinson's disease?

By Robert Purchese Published 2 December, 2010

Doctor gets funding to find out.

Not all videogames are bad and violence inducing - some can alleviate symptoms of one of the world's worst diseases: Parkinson's.

A British doctor has been awarded £35,000 to research the benefits that playing Wii can have for people with Parkinson's. Oscar-winning actress Helen Mirren, who was reported to have been paid half a million quid by Nintendo to advertise Wii Fit, is interested to see how the research turns out - she has a close friend with Parkinson's.

The Wii helps Parkinson's sufferers by physically and mentally challenging them - a process that can slow the degradation of nerve cells.

"Keeping moving is really important because of the stiffness. By doing the Wii I find that you loosen up the muscles that are constantly spasming," said Karen Rose, a lady who suffers from Parkinson's. She's been chosen to appear in Nintendo's real story TV adverts.

"Most people with Parkinson's find that they lose their confidence. So I tend to do exercise at home. I've got all the benefits of a gym, but I can do it to fit in with my lifestyle and my medication. It gives you a burst somehow, and it makes you feel better, and then you have a better day."

Dr Cathy Craig, the woman in charge of the research, added: "Our hope is to harness the benefits of the Wii technology to develop a system designed specifically for people with Parkinson's.

"If the project is successful the benefits could be twofold. It could allow us to develop a simple way to assess Parkinson's symptoms yet provide a safe and effective way for people with the condition to be more active and keep fit."

Presumably Microsoft's Kinect and Sony's PlayStation Move could help people with Parkinson's as well.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds. @Clert on Twitter.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (14) Latest comment 1 year ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • SYS64738 #1 1 year ago

    Is there anything the Wii can't do? I'm sure we'll find out soon...

  • Dave_McCoy #2 1 year ago

    @SYS6438

    HD?

  • s11mmy #3 1 year ago

    "By doing the Wii I find that you loosen up the muscles"

    I find that doing the Wii loosens up my muscles too ;)

    Sorry! I just had too...

  • SYS64738 #4 1 year ago

    @Dave

    HD is only a theoretical concept current gen anyways, bar a few exceptions;)

  • reelbigkris #5 1 year ago

    What is the point of this experiment? we've seen everythign the wii can do. If people with parkinsons have been able to improve with the help of excerices, the wii is not going to do much else, hell it may even do worse as it requires the user to spend money to obtain gamign equipment AND purchase games. Real excercise can not be matched in a video game.

    If theres a science between recieving visual feedback about performance than that is a diferent matter. Because i'd love to hear how electronic lights affect the brain in a positive way. We've allready heard how gamers can see diferent levels contrast much more efficiently than non gamers and how playing a game is able to improve the eyesight of adults with lazy eye by 60 percent.

    Game + excercise is probably the best way of stimulating body, vision and mind. (that is my opinion however, not a scientific one where i got paid thousands of pounds to suggest this.) But I do hope some sort of amazing revelation comes from this research as I do have a grandparent who suffers from the early stages of parkinsons

  • Dave_McCoy #6 1 year ago

    @SYS6438

    Touché my good chap. :-)

  • neilka #7 1 year ago

    Surely the last thing they need is more waggle?

  • Typh #8 1 year ago

    Wii can also cure cancer and solve all your problems (except problems with women, even the wii can't solve that shi-).

  • dmcclure #9 1 year ago

    Better living through video games! :D

  • trenchardcleats #10 1 year ago

    ok. Now this is offensive, end of.

    'slow the degeneration of nerve cells' Really?

    You have proof, naturally ...

    I'm sorry, but you plainly misunderstand how PD works. Symptomatic relief is not the same as slowing the degradation of nerve cells. nothing like it.

    [link url=http://wp.me/p16t7v-c8
    ]http://wp.me/p16t7v-c8
    [/link]

    I suggest you think before you write something which is simply untrue again. Because for those of us who suffer from such things find this kind of sniggering nonsense really, really offensive.

    Cheers!

    TC


  • jokerevo #11 1 year ago

    ........well then Move can stop Parkinson's dead in it's tracks

  • Caimbeul #12 1 year ago

    no

  • epiazk #13 1 year ago

    HD is a resolution.

    Not a concept.

    Jesus.

  • 5h1nj1 #14 1 year ago

    2epiazk: Of course, but the point is, many current gen console games run in sub-HD resolutions anyway and are only upscaled. ;)