'Wii knee' set to dampen the festive spirit
by Stevie Smith - Dec 22 2008, 17:11
Doctors say the Wii could damage your health. Image: Daniel Morrison/Flickr.
Despite becoming an instant retail phenomenon when it first arrived in November of 2006, the innovative Nintendo Wii’s reputation was soon tarnished somewhat by possession breakages and minor physical injuries connected to overzealous use of the Wii Remote and Nunchuk motion controllers.
Now, as Christmas looms, possible negative effects are once again on the cards after doctors warned that excessive Wii gameplay interaction could have potentially hazardous repercussions on the health and well being of its players.
While unlikely to dissuade those desperate consumers still searching out Nintendo’s groundbreaking console, doctors have suggested sports games on the Wii, which require players to recreate actual movements, might lead to a variety of sprains, strains, and even fractures.
According to researchers at the Leeds Teaching Hospital in the UK, a new physical injury known as “Wii knee” has now been identified, which could well be connected to the recent arrival of the Wii Balance Board.
Initially released to accompany the Wii Fit exercise package, the Balance Board can now be used to track and transfer player movements in dedicated sports titles such as Shaun White Snowboarding.
UK broadsheet The Telegraph reveals that osteopaths reported an increase in adult patients suffering with back injuries following the festive period of 2007, which the medical community said was the result of exuberant parents overexerting themselves in an effort to keep up with their children and the Wii.
However, injuries are not strictly limited to the back and knees, with The British Society for Surgery of the Hand (BSSH) outlining that its surgeons recently treated a patient who sustained a fractured finger after being struck by her partner’s Wii controller while playing tennis together on Wii Sports.
Doctors are warning that enthusiastic players who don’t often engage in physical exercise are most at risk when it comes to suffering a Wii-based injury.
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