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Posted: 7:56 PM Jan 14, 2008
Video Games Help Stroke Victims
Doctors are now using video games to help with stroke patient's rehabilitation.
Reporter: Brad Myers Email Address: brad.myers@wsaz.com |
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1 Comments 
Recovering from a stroke is no easy task, just ask any survivor. Now, an unusual technique is proving quite useful in helping with patient's recovery efforts.
Doctors are now using video games to help with stroke patient's rehabilitation. It’s been eight years since Carol Mirabella suffered a stroke.
"Well I got a pain in back of my head, my left arm dropped and I went on my knees and I knew right away," stroke patient Carol Mirabella said.
Rehabilitation helped get her back on her feet, but her affected arm, the left one, has never been the same.
"I used to knock everything over but when I pick up a glass or something I can pick it up better," Carol said.
She credits this extra strength in her left arm to playing video games.
"Well I never played them so I didn't know what it was about but it's fun," Carol said.
It's not as simple as playing a game, this is exciting new research.
"It combines two new concepts in stroke rehab and that's the use of a virtual reality system, like the Wii as a non-conventional means of physical therapy along with our Afferent technology," Afferent Corporation’s Bethany Therrien said.
This technology involves neuro-stimulation.
"And that increases the amount of sensory information that flows to the brain while they're going through rehab. It’s helping the brain to relearn the function that was lost during the stroke," Therrien said.
Half of the participants in this stroke rehab study simply play the interactive games. The other half, like Carol, receives the neuro-stimulation while playing the games.
"We're hoping that we can accelerate the process and that they can gain a higher function, a higher measurement of functional ability at the end of the study,” Therrien said.
Carol feels it has improved the function in her left arm, and over the course of this two week study, she's grown especially fond of one of the games.
"Well boxing. I'm the champ,” Carol laughingly said.
Latest Comments
To all you videogame naysayers: Ha!!!!!
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