Back in June of last year, word about Wiimote aficionados injuring themselves during the course of overly intense bouts of play caught our attention. The affliction was featured on WebMD, and even given one of those official sounding medical names: Wiiitis — which when roughly translated — should’ve meant something down the lines of inflammation of the Wii, and not parts of human anatomy.
Not having heard much about it since that time, we figured that not only was it being blown completely out of proportion, but it was just something limited to that part of the general population that tends to get a bit too excited over things, while throwing caution by the wayside. No, we’re not referring to testosterone-fueled teenagers full of angst. We were kind of leaning towards those who are of a younger age, who seemingly are powered by Happy Meals and rocket fuel (How else can one explain their boundless energy?). Anyway, the whole Wiiitis thing has hit the Internet again, but this time it comes with scientific proof, thanks to MRI technology. This particular case involves a 22-year old male, who finds his way to a physician’s office after knocking down just a few too many pins during one of those marathon Wii Sports sessions. So what did modern medicine have to say about this painful mistake?
“Little resistance is offered by the light 200 g handheld controller to the aggressive maneuvers made by the participant, which may lead to awkward deceleration forces being applied to the upper extremity…. It is likely that, during the deceleration phase of swinging the Wii controller, there is significant eccentric loading on the participant’s muscle groups, causing the ultrastructural damage, as demonstrated in this case.”
Having dropped out of Johns Hopkins before I even started, this Dtoid editor might be the last person you’d want deciphering medicinal physics, but that analysis sounds reasonable to me. However, what still doesn’t sit well with me is the fact that people (that are old enough to know better) insist on using overly exaggerated movements to accomplish what could’ve been done in a safer manner. Last time I checked, you can get through pretty much any Wii game with movements that don’t lead to medical care.
In other words, YOU’RE DOING IT WRONG! Come on people, give us a break. Nintendo is already paranoid enough about our personal safety as it is. How about downing a common sense/personal restraint milkshake, and stop making Wii owners look like dolts. Most of us manage to get through gaming sessions unscathed. At this rate, we are never going to get our hands on a decent online system that doesn’t involve the exchanging of endless strings of random numbers.
[Via Gamecritics — Thanks, Chi]
