It’s all the rage at Rutgers and Indiana U. UCSF has joined forces with a private company to develop games with therapeutic value. From Texas to Toronto to Newcastle, Game Therapy has become the next big thing. When Professor Denise Reid started the first two-year study, the World Trade Center was still standing, and Osama bin Laden was just another terrorist. Now Nintendo and Sony are involved, and Red Hill Studios has made game therapy its specialty. Cerebral palsy, stroke and Parkinson’s sufferers are benefiting, and this is only the beginning.

Physicians and Occupational Therapists specially tailor computer games to fit the needs of each patient. For example, children with hemiplegic Cerebral Palsy have never learned to use one side of their body. It is stiff, uncoordinated, and often the child has no control whatsoever. Ordinarily, a hemiplegic child’s only hope would be endless, grueling physical therapy, with limited prospects for improvement. But researchers have developed games like Nintendo Wii’s Sunset, in which the child must hold down a button with the dominant hand, and use the challenged hand to manipulate controls that pop bubbles as they emerge from the water. The more bubbles the child pops before the sun sets, the higher the score. In another game, the child grabs fruit and throws it into a bowl. In another, an animated cheese grater prepares cheese that the child “grabs” with the control button. Progress is closely monitored on line by the child’s care team, who verify that the game is actually therapeutic, and that it isn’t overplayed which might cause fatigue, or that it doesn’t cause excessive strain of some muscle groups to the exclusion of others. As the child’s skill increases, the games become more challenging. The result of the physical therapy and care are tailored to complement the child’s gaming skills and vice versa.

Children’s progress is not limited to coordination, strength and hand speed, although improvements in those areas have been dramatic. Using game therapy, children with Hemiplegic CP have developed the ability to lift large, heavy objects after as little as three months. One was able to open a heavy door after ten months of gaming while another was saved when falling by stretching out both hands to catch herself, something she would not have been capable of previously. Beyond the clinical successes, there is the improvement in the children’s quality of life and independence, as they interact with siblings who also enjoy games and the boost to self-esteem that comes from learning to excel at an activity they and so many other people enjoy.