nintendo wii balance board 300x183 Wii Balance Board Just as Good as £11,000 Force Platform
New Scientist picked up an interesting story about how doctors at the University of Melbourne, Australia used a Wii Balance board to test and treat the balance of stroke victims who are learning to walk again.

WHEN Ross Clark read in New Scientist (29 March 2008, p 26) that the US military considered the Nintendo Wiimote controller accurate enough to control bomb disposal robots, it set him thinking. Could the Wii’s skiing and snowboarding attachment, the balance board, help rehabilitate people who have had a stroke?

Essentially they took the Wii balance board apart. Found that it really had some high quality accelerometers, and force gauges for the low price of ~£100. The medical grade force platform used in most doctors offices cost £11,000. In a paper they published in the journal Gait and Posture they show that the Wii balance board gave comparable results to the £11,000 standard equipment and so could be used as a substitute for clinics who could not afford the £11,000 price tag.

These findings suggest that the WBB is a valid tool for assessing standing balance. Given that the WBB is portable, widely available and a fraction of the cost of a FP, it could provide the average clinician with a standing balance assessment tool suitable for the clinical setting.

This is great news for patients and doctors. And highlights something I know Dan and I have seen on a regular basis since we started our careers in science. As soon as something is labeled “Professional’ or “Scientific Grade” the price skyrockets. And walking into any lab you will see all sorts of “off label” uses of common items because of these price restraints. So now I can add WBB to the list. Awesome.

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One Response to “Wii Balance Board Just as Good as £11,000 Force Platform”

  1. Should Workers Compensation Cover A Wii Fit? I Say Yes. [Editorial] | G.A.M.E.S. on 03 May 2010 at 9:25 am #

    [...] have been covered. And the University of Melbourne, Australia used a Wii Balance board to test and treat the balance of stroke victims who are learning to walk again. Locally The Lake East Hospital in Cleveland uses WiiFits as part of [...]

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