News-Record.com

Back in February, I wrote about how Moses Cone Hospital's physical rehabilitation unit was using a Wii video game system to help patients recover from the effects of such things as stroke and wreck injuries.

Now, I learn via news release that the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, which bills itself as the nation's largest philanthropy devoted to improving health and health care for Americans, is awarding more than $2 million in grants to a dozen research programs that are examining links between physically-active video games and health.

One of the programs is at the School of Public Health at UNC-Chapel Hill. Here's what the release said about it:

Presence: Predicting Sensory and Control Effects of Console Video Games in Young Adults will investigate motivations to expend energy during video game play for people aged 18 to 35. The study will compare physiological measures of energy expenditure while people play traditional video games (those that involve pushing buttons on a standard game controller or on a Wii motion-sensing controller) versus active video games (those that require physical movement, using inputs such as a dance pad, balance board or guitar). It also will explore players’ sense of being present in the game and their intrinsic motivation to play, two factors that are known to increase the amount of time people will spend playing a game. This is the first time that research will identify impacts of these factors on players’ energy expenditure; study results may lead to recommendations for making traditional games more active and active games more compelling.

Similar to what the Cone folks are doing, the University of South Carolina Research Foundation will be looking at Wii and EyeToy as tools for helping people who have suffered strokes. Ten other programs nationwide also are getting funds.

And they say video games are a disaster for national fitness ....

UPDATE: More on the Wii and exercise here at Slate, with a hat tip to co-worker Gerald Witt.