Falls are a serious concern for patients with multiple sclerosis (MS), an autoimmune disease of the central nervous system, in which the body’s immune system attacks the protective covering or sheath surrounding nerve fibers. The risk for serious head and extremity injuries can increase with the duration of the disease.
As disruption of balance is both a common and debilitating symptom of MS, initiatives to reduce the incidence of falls would be welcomed by patients and medical providers.
Now a study published this week in Radiology shows that Nintendo’s Wii Balance Boardmay help reduce multiple sclerosis (MS) patients’ risk of falls by rewiring their brains.
In a small study, researchers used an MRI technique called diffusion tensor imaging to analyze changes in the brain of MS patients that used the Wii Balance Board while playing video games for 30-40 minutes a day five days a week.
MRI scans in the MS patients in the study demonstrated significant growth of nerve tracts which are integral in movement as well as balance. It turns out that the changes seen on MRI correlated with improvements in balance as measured by an assessment technique called posturography.
These brain changes in MS patients are likely a manifestation of neural plasticity, or the ability of the brain to adapt and form new connections throughout life, said lead author Luca Prosperini, M.D., Ph.D., from Sapienza University in Rome, Italy. ”The most important finding in this study is that a task-oriented and repetitive training aimed at managing a specific symptom is highly effective and induces brain plasticity.”
“More specifically, the improvements promoted by the Wii balance board can reduce the risk of accidental falls in patients with MS, thereby reducing the risk of fall-related comorbidities like trauma and fractures,” added Prosperini.
Researchers cautioned that the improvements in balance did not persist after patients stopped playing the video games, suggesting that patients will need to continue their training in order benefit from the intervention.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/robertglatter/2014/08/26/video-game-can-help-ms-patients-prevent-falls/
“Wii Balance Board” Nintendo Wii Fit (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
