Wii: Only fun till someone gets hurt
Junior Cody West plays a game without the wrist strap on the Wii, risking an injury.
March 4, 2010 • written by Kimmy West
Filed under News
“You just don’t play Wii, you experience it.” What does this well known slogan for the Nintendo Wii Game Console really mean?
Experience the fun? the excitement? the injuries?
The Wii has been the cause of many injuries since it was released in 2006. In 2008, doctors reported that Wii injuries account for an average of 10 office visits per week. Doctors refer to a specific type of Wii injury as “Wii knee.” Frequent bending of the knees while continuously playing for too long causes this particular injury, sometimes even causing the kneecap to pop out of place.
“I was playing Wii a lot when I first got it,” sophomore Lacey Denton said. “After a while my knee became inflamed to the point I couldn’t run, and I had to wear a knee brace.”
The failure of players to keep an ample distance away from objects and people also causes injuries. Although some people fail to pay attention to the warning before the game that states the space surrounding the area of movement should be clear, they often get so caught up in the game they begin to move out of their original playing space.
“Me and my friend Cody were playing Wii Tennis,” Denton said,” and I started moving around, trying to hit the ball, and hit him in the shoulder.”
In some cases people get injured due to not wearing the safety strap on the controller. This often causes the remote to slip from their hand and go flying across the room. Other people wear the wrist strap, but they do not take the precaution of tightening it to fit their wrist. Although wearing the wrist strap does make the game safer, tightening it guarantees the safety of the items and people in close proximity.
“I was playing Wii tennis without tightening my wrist strap,” sophomore Nathan White said. “When I took my back swing, the remote slipped from my hand and hit my mom in the face.”
Many people claim that these injuries have not been very severe, but some injuries have caused children a lot of pain. There have been reports of head injuries, dislocated bones, and at least one case of traumatic hemothorax, which involves bleeding between the chest wall and the lung.
“I was playing Wii tennis and I got really into it. I didn’t notice after I won my game that my shoulder bone popped out a little,” sophomore Charlotte Cannon said. “Then I started playing bowling, and after a couple rounds I got a strike and completely popped my shoulder out of place. I didn’t go to the hospital because my step-dad helped me pop it back into place.”
The Wii can be an entertaining game system, but it can also cause injuries. Anyone who plans to purchase or play the Nintendo Wii should take the directed precautions that appear on the screen before playing. Warnings are given for a reason, and people only have fun until someone gets hurt.
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