Studies have shown that video games can help patients recovering from a stroke, but now research done at Johns Hopkins proves it can help patinets in intensive care as well.

Break out the Nintendo Wii
“Patients admitted to our medical intensive care unit are very sick and, despite early physical therapy, still experience problems with muscle weakness, balance and coordination as they recover,” says study leader Michelle E. Kho, P.T., Ph.D, assistant professor of Physical Medicine and at Johns Hopkins. “We are always looking for creative ways to improve rehabilitation care for critically ill patients, and our study suggests that interactive video games may be a helpful addition.”

So, researchers did just that.  With the help of a Nintendo Wii and its balance board, researchers had 22 critically ill patients do various games including bowling and boxing on the game console and found patient’s stamina and balance improved.

Why it works
One of the main reasons why doctors think video game therapy works is patients enjoy playing.  If a patient doesn’t feel as though they are trudging through therapy and instead are having a little fun, the therapy tends to be more beneficial.

“As always, patient safety was a top priority, given that healthy people playing video games may be injured during routine gaming, but when properly selected and supervised by experienced ICU physical therapists, patients enjoyed the challenge of the video games and welcomed the change from their physical therapy routines,” says senior author, Dale M. Needham, M.D. ,Ph.D., associate professor and medical director of the Critical Care Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation Program at Johns Hopkins.

The next step
Now researchers want to know what games specifically create the best outcome for patients.  While video games can have negative effects when played outside of a supervised setting, these preliminary results are enough to encourage doctors to add video games to physical therapy routines.