What if, tomorrow, your doctor could prescribe you hours of video games? The idea might seem far-fetched, since video games are regularly criticized for their addictive power. However, it can also have beneficial effects on health and prove to be a valuable tool in pain management.
Video game therapy has different applications… Games have been developed to divert patients’ attention during difficult manipulations and to reduce pain during rehabilitation. They are also used to stimulate patients suffering from neurodegenerative diseases and thus help slow down the progression of the disease…”, explains Catherine Rolland, head of the Science and Video Game Chair at the Ecole Polytechnique de Paris.
Tailor-made games
With this in mind, the developers have created games that specifically meet the needs of practitioners and patients.
What if, tomorrow, your doctor could prescribe you hours of video games? The idea might seem far-fetched, since video games are regularly criticized for their addictive power. However, it can also have beneficial effects on health and prove to be a valuable tool in pain management.
Video game therapy has different applications… Games have been developed to divert patients’ attention during difficult manipulations and to reduce pain during rehabilitation. They are also used to stimulate patients suffering from neurodegenerative diseases and thus help slow down the progression of the disease…”, explains Catherine Rolland, head of the Science and Video Game Chair at the Ecole Polytechnique de Paris.
With this in mind, developers have created games that specifically meet the needs of practitioners and patients.
One example is Voracy Fish, a game developed to promote upper limb rehabilitation for stroke victims. In Voracy Fish, the player embodies a hungry fish that he or she controls with a joystick, a mouse, or directly on a tablet. The objective is to make the fish grow bigger by devouring other fish. With his hand, the patient performs different actions in the game, while practicing classic functional rehabilitation exercises in a motivating environment,” says Catherine Rolland.