Wii as therapy

[TinaP]

I just bought a Wii for my mom for her birthday. Mom is 70-something and has head to toe arthritis so I thought that a Wii would be a fun way to get movement and stretching exercises. I also figured that I could play occasionally and wouldn't stay up all night or neglect my chores if the Wii remained at Mom's house.

Her big day isn't until July, so she won't be getting it for a while; but I was wondering about other simple games. Something easy to understand that she may like. If she likes the games that come with the console, I'll probably get her Fit for Christmas. Any suggestions?

Also, is there anything I should watch out for? Most people I've talked to say they were very sore after their first Wii session.

I've been following this discussion http://www.mrexcel.com/forum/showthread.php?t=321006 and I can't wait to give it to her.

 

[cornflakegirl]

The Sports games are the best ones we've got to get you moving. Haven't got Wii Fit yet. Is it just "fitness" games you're after?

 

[TinaP]

My main goal is just to get moving. Mom and I both. Mom because of her arthritis, me because my butt needs trimming (she said as she ate a brownie).

I doubt Mom would enjoy role playing games or anything that would be difficult to understand the rules or strategy.

 

[cornflakegirl]

None of the games that we have get you up off the sofa, apart from Sport. Tbh, even the Sport ones aren't that great as exercise once you get used to them and realise that small movements work too. Although I guess you could deliberately keep using energetic movements if you wanted to.

I'm not one of nature's gamers. I like the Wii a lot more than any other console I've played, and there are several games that I'll join in with if other people are playing (Sports, Mario Kart, Brain Academy). But it's pretty rare that I switch the Wii on to play by myself. Can't think of any games that I'd say "Your mum would love this!"

Hopefully someone else will be more helpful!

 

[TinaP]

Thanks for your honest opinion--it's exactly what I wanted.

I realize no one here knows my mom, but almost everyone has a mom. I've never played Wii and I'm not a gamer so I thought I'd post here for enlightenment.

 

[starl]

my inlaws are about the same age as your mom and they really enjoyed the bowling. Not to strenuos, but gets a person moving - legs, arm swing (I guess it's very picky about that arm swing)

 

[cornflakegirl]

Yeah, my MIL picked up the bowling really quickly - she's quite technophobic, so I was pleasantly surprised. Although it did reveal a competitive streak I didn't know she had!

 

[TinaP]

I figure bowling is the key to whether or not she'll like the Wii. She used to bowl, but had to give it up when her arthritis got so bad. She just couldn't handle the ball. After she gets used to bowling I'll probably introduce baseball. She hasn't played baseball since she grew up on the family farm. She admits she wasn't any good and was picked lower than last when picking teams (You can have Mary. We don't want her--you take her.), but she may do better when she doesn't really have to lift the bat, etc. Plus she understands the game.

Yeah, my MIL picked up the bowling really quickly - she's quite technophobic, so I was pleasantly surprised. Although it did reveal a competitive streak I didn't know she had!

I'm amazed at the competitive spirit of seniors. It's a bit frightening at times.

 

[schielrn]

Mario Party is a great game. It is a board game where you participate in many different events. It use many different ranges of motion and as in my family everyone is really competitive so it makes for great times at family functions.

 

[eblake]

I have a WII but don't get to play it too often. We did pick up the dance game for it that comes with one of the dance mats, one mat not good with 2 kids so we looked into a second one, you can buy them at places like wall mart for 25$ so look around.

It has some slow songs as well as a workout section of it, I don't have the coordination to dance with it, but the workout part is pretty good. Gets you moving.

If she likes to Sing you could get Boogie / or <cough>High School Musical</cough> which comes with a USB microphone.