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Wiiitis preys on weak muscles E-mail
by Alex Zaharov-Reutt   
Friday, 08 June 2007
If you’ve been playing your Nintendo Wii for hours, and start feeling pain in different parts of your body, chances are you’ve got Wiiitis.

The new medical phenomenon of Wiiitis – pronounced Wii-eye-tis – and brought to the world’s attention by Reuters, is a real one that is similar to sports injuries, thanks to the Wii’s control system that mimics real life sporting moves.

The patient to suffer the episode of Wiiitis also happens to be the doctor that diagnosed his own condition, Dr. Julio Bonis, who wrote to the New England Journal of Medicine (100-word abstract) to report the condition and its new name.

Given the nature of one of the Wii’s most popular games, Wii Sports, revolves around tennis, boxing, bowling, baseball and golf, many of the actions performed in the real sports are also performed in the virtual Wii Sports experience, but without necessarily anywhere near the actual strength and effort needed in real life with real sports equipment.

That said, given the Wii’s nature to be an addictive game that’s easy, fun and even compelling to play, easily being able to overdo it and strain muscles that you normally don’t use quite as strenuously for extended periods of time becomes not only a genuine concern, but as some Wii owners have already discovered, a genuine issue.

Dr. Julio Bonis prescribed himself ibuprofen and barred himself from playing the Wii for a week to give himself time to heal, telling Reuters that he’s now moderating his use of the Wii while finding it difficult to do so.

While sore thumbs have afflicted heavy games players before, the Wii’s motion sensing control system practically compels you to play with your entire body.

Given that it’s really the equivalent of a workout, a series of warm up, stretching and after game play warm down exercises might be an option for gamers to help prevent injuries, along with breaks between play and a minimization of extended game play sessions.

After all, as with anything in life, moderation and balance are the key – and especially so, it seems, for the Nintendo Wii!
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