It's No Game: Wii Fit For Concussion Rehab

We never would have guessed the next big medical device for traumatic brain injury would come in a box from Nintendo. But the Washington Post tells us more and more college athletic programs are using Wii Fit to help players manage their rehabilitation from concussion.

Trainers find the Wii simple, affordable, and extraordinarily popular with athletes. Of course the game system is only one small part of a broader approach to the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of traumatic brain injury (TBI) in athletes. As we reported yesterday, serious or repeated head injury in young athletes may add up to a TBI that, in later life, can mimic other neurologic diseases like ALS and Alzheimer's.

Rehabilitation physicians and physical therapists also use Wii Fit to help patients with prosthetic limbs regain their balance.

O2.O is the news blog of HyperbaricLink, the independent web guide to hyperbaric oxygen therapy.

TBI Sometimes Misdiagnosed As ALS

Did Lou Gehrig really have Lou Gehrig's Disease? The causes of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) are still unknown, but researchers now believe Gehrig's motor neuron disease may have been caused by repeated head trauma and concussions.

A new study out of Boston University and the Veterans Administration, published in the Journal of Neuropathology & Experimental Neurology, offers "the first pathological evidence that repetitive head trauma experienced in collision sports might be associated with the development of a motor neuron disease." The same kinds of head trauma have become the signature injury of troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. Resulting memory problems may be misdiagnosed as Alzheimer's disease as well.

Alan Schwarz of the New York Times provides a winning overview of the paper and Gehrig's famous battle with the disease, whichever disease it really was.

Which raises the question: If hyperbaric oxygen therapy is proven efficacious in the treatment of traumatic brain injury (TBI), may we then assume it works for ALS, too?

O2.O is the news blog of HyperbaricLink, the independent web guide to hyperbaric oxygen therapy.