Wii Balance Board Comparable to Lab-Grade Medical Equipment for Less than %1 of the Price
Image Source: Gizmodo
Speaking of technologies being used for other purposes... This story was passed along by Aaron Kao, a sharp new intern here at Ashoka.
The Wii Balance Board—a pressure-sensitive accessory you stand on to do yoga and play snowboarding video games—can apparently do the same thing for stroke victims that an $18,000 piece of medical equipment has traditionally done, at less than 1% of the cost and available for sale at your local mall.
"When (University of Melbourne researcher) 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?"
Apparently it can. Clark and colleagues cracked one open and found the data it provides to be "clinically comparable" to that of specialized (and expensive) lab-grade force platforms that measure patients' balance and aid in rehabilitation. "I was shocked given the price: it was an extremely impressive strain gauge set-up," Clark said. Because these force platforms are so expensive, they've been out of reach for many health and rehabilitiation clinics. But at $99, the Wii balance board could change all that.
View full post at New Scientist here >>
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Comments
Yes, but...
I'm actually quite disheartened by this article... it points out the huge, unchecked interests of private industry having us pay inordinate sums in the health care system because we've lost sight of the common-good goals of health.... there are too many examples of "medical-grade" equipment being out of reach of any but the richest institutions - and many countries! This is shameful! I hope Wii puts the leading "medical-grade" scale business out of busines - but doubt we can ever dislodge the inertia of greed that has been driving our health deliver system.
Sorry to be such a cynic!