Nintendo Wii Console (Black) with Wii Fit Plus and Balance Board + Motion Plus Controller (Wii)

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The Wii Fit software includes several means of assessing balance ability. Once the Wii Fit software is loaded, participants are first encouraged to perform a “body test” that comprises both “center of balance” and “body control” measures of balance control. In the center of balance assessment, participants stand still on the WBB for 7 s while COP data is collected. From this data, the participant’s average COP deviation from body midline is calculated, indicating a measure of weight bearing asymmetry. Overall, this assessment is thought to provide information about body posture with the assumption that having an equal distribution of weight between left and right legs is ideal. Podsiadlo D, Richardson S: The timed “Up & Go”: a test of basic functional mobility for frail elderly persons. J Am Geriatr Soc 1991, 39: 142-148.

Not all Wii fit balance interventions have been game-based. Shih[ 42], for example, used a unique approach that encouraged individuals with Cerebral Palsy to become more aware of their COP location. In this experiment, a customized WBB setup was used to activate participants’ favorite television programs when standing on the board with their COP centered between the feet. Deviation from this ideal resulted in the television program being turned off. Even though the participants had reduced cognitive abilities, they were able to implicitly learn COP control over multiple trials and keep the television on for longer periods of time than normal. An increased percentage of trials with the desired COP location were also found in retention trials with the television stimulus constantly on. Efficacy of Wii Fit-based interventions Only a few attempts have been made to utilize Wii Fit software-based balance metrics in research settings, and only limited success has been achieved. First, in a study by Dougherty et al.[ 23], 9 older adults were asked to undergo a 5-week balance training program using a multi-axis balance training board (Indo Board Balance Trainer, EABO Inc.). The participant’s Wii Fit Age was calculated before and after the intervention and results showed that Wii Fit Age was lower (i.e. improved) following training. Despite this mean improvement, however, no statistical differences were found, suggesting that only some of the balance improvement was captured by the Wii Fit Age metric.Fitness, in this instance, isn’t a harsh reality, full of punitive measures. Ring Fit Adventure poses being active as an expression of joy. Holmes JD, Jenkins ME, Johnson AM, Hunt MA, Clark RA: Validity of the Nintendo Wii(R) balance board for the assessment of standing balance in Parkinson's disease. Clin Rehabil 2013, 27: 361-366. 10.1177/0269215512458684

That danger is reflected in testimonies from Osu and others online. “When friends would come round to play, I would tell them that the Wii Fit board was broken because I didn’t want them to see what it said,” Osu told Polygon.To what extent two Wii Fit body test metrics correlate with standardized tests of older adult fitness, balance and mobility was recently determined by Reed-Jones and colleagues[ 13]. These researchers compared a battery of clinical examinations with the “Basic Balance Test” and the “Prediction test” of the Wii Fit software. Overall, there was little correlation between the clinical tests and the data provided from the Wii Fit software-based tests of balance. This finding mirrored that which was described by Gras et al.[ 6], who also found that the center of balance test was not a valid measure compared to its counterpart determined via a force platform. Further, Wikstrom[ 40] found poor validity and reliability for 12 of the exer-games associated with the Wii Fit software compared to a standard balance test. This result may reflect the different requirements of balance for gaming and the balance test utilized by Wikstrom[ 40]. Taken together, however, these results suggest that Wii Fit software-based measures of balance ability are not effective. Using the Wii Fit for balance intervention Owens SG, Garner JC 3rd, Loftin JM, van Blerk N, Ermin K: Changes in physical activity and fitness after 3 months of home Wii Fit use. J Strength Cond Res 2011, 25: 3191-3197. 10.1519/JSC.0b013e3182132d55 Gray P, Hildebrand K: Fall risk factors in Parkinson's disease. J Neurosci Nurs 2000, 32: 222-228. 10.1097/01376517-200008000-00006 Kwok BC, Mamun K, Chandran M, Wong CH: Evaluation of the Frails’ Fall Efficacy by Comparing Treatments (EFFECT) on reducing fall and fear of fall in moderately frail older adults: study protocol for a randomised control trial. Trials 2011, 12: 155. 10.1186/1745-6215-12-155