Wii Fit Is Great, But In Moderation

In a recent New York Times article about the Nintendo Wii, there have been many reported shoulder injuries linked to the Gaming platform. They refer to these as "Nintendinitis". This is linked to the swinging movements in the Wii Sports games and workouts.

Nintendo created Wii to break away from sedentary video-game systems. In doing so, it lures users off the couch with a handheld, wireless remote and a selection of familiar, free-swinging games like tennis, boxing and bowling.

According to Dr. Brian Halpern, a sports medicine physician at the Hospital for Special Surgery in Manhattan, “It’s great in the concept that it gets people active and involved". However, “It’s not great in that you get lost in that and are overloading areas that you haven’t worked out in a long time, if ever.”

Dr. Halpern said he had treated two types of injuries tied to Wii: traumatic injuries like twisted knees and sprained ankles from playing the games in confined spaces, and repetitive stress problems from playing too long. A common problem is the realization by players that a full swing is not required; a flick of the wrist is often enough to return a serve or bowl a strike. As several doctors pointed out, that is the exact motion — concentrating the force of a swing in the muscles of the forearm — that can cause tennis elbow.

The Wii system displays warnings about prolonged use. It also interrupts players regularly to urge them to take a break. Like any type of exercise or physical activity, doing it in moderation is best. Also, please check with you physician if you are healthy enough to perform this type of physical activity.

The benefits of the physical activity that is done when using Wii far outweighs the negatives. Wii has helped many people lose weight, gain muscle tone, improve flexibility, balance and improve their physical health while having fun doing it.