Garry Fraser was a staunch supporter of the amputees using the service and their rehabilitation and, following his death in 2009, his family made the donation to help support the patients using the service, and the staff delivering it.
Mairi Ross, a Vascular Physiotherapist for NHS Highland, explains that the Wii Fit is an excellent addition to conventional rehabilitation. She said: “Conventional rehabilitation is very important. It involves muscle stretches, muscle training, balance re-education as well as walking training with an artificial limb if the patient is able.
“The Wii, an interactive program played through a TV, allows the user to take part in exercises and various types of games allowing them to see how their body is moving and how they can correct any wrong movements.
“The patient is able to stand on the balance board within the parallel bars and visually see when they are shifting their weight over their artificial limb. Without the visual feedback this can be quite challenging and many amputees do struggle with it.”
She added that the visual feedback really helps with the stretching and strengthening of specific muscles, such as core tummy and pelvic muscles, which will help with improved body awareness, posture and ultimately safer and better walking.
Mairi said: “One of the main long term problems of amputees is the development of low back pain. If, within physiotherapy, we can use the Wii fit as an extra in targeting balance issues and weight transference difficulties then the hope is the patient will develop a more balanced musculature which is less likely to develop problems.
“One of the big benefits of the Wii fit and rehabilitation is that it is great fun. While the patient is working hard and performing the exercise or playing the game, they are thoroughly enjoying themselves.”
Amputee rehabilitation is not the only area of physiotherapy where the Wii fit can be used. It has already been used successfully within paediatrics and also in intensive care. It is hoped that most areas of physiotherapy will be able to make use of this equipment as an addition to conventional therapy.
