Assisting people with multiple disabilities actively correct abnormal standing posture with a Nintendo Wii balance board through controlling environmental stimulation.
A Wii board plus on-off music gives instant biofeedback that straightens posture in adults with severe disabilities.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Two adults with multiple disabilities learned to stand straighter using a Wii Balance Board. The board acted like a smart scale. It knew when their weight shifted too far forward, back, left, or right.
Custom software turned the board into a game controller. When posture was crooked, all music and videos paused. The moment they shifted back to center, the fun stuff played again. Staff only helped at set-up.
What they found
Both people quickly figured out the rule: straight body equals favorite songs. Time spent in correct posture jumped during Wii sessions and dropped when the system was turned off.
The ABAB reversal design showed the gains were not luck. Posture scores fell each time the contingency stopped and rose again when it returned.
How this fits with other research
Morrison et al. (2017) got the same lift with leg lifts. Their nine late-stage Alzheimer’s patients earned music for every gentle kick. Same recipe: simple motion plus preferred stimulation equals big jump in activity.
Li et al. (2019) stretched the idea to walking. Young adults with developmental disabilities tripled daily steps when a lottery, not continuous music, paid off. It shows the Wii pause-and-play trick can be swapped for cheaper timers or raffle jars.
Erath et al. (2022) sounds like a failure at first glance. Only four of six desk workers improved sitting breaks when money was wired through an app. The gap is population: the Wii study gave instant sensory fun to people with limited recreation, while the app study offered small cash to adults already buried in email. Same lever, different weight.
Why it matters
You already use sensory reinforcement in therapy. This paper says a $20 Wii board can turn that reinforcer into an automatic feedback loop for posture, weight-shift, or even sitting tolerance. No extra staff, no data sheets. Try it next week: place the board under a standing workstation, pick one beloved song, and let the music stop-start teach the body where neutral is.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
The latest researches adopted software technology turning the Nintendo Wii Balance Board into a high performance change of standing posture (CSP) detector, and assessed whether two persons with multiple disabilities would be able to control environmental stimulation using body swing (changing standing posture). This study extends Wii Balance Board functionality for standing posture correction (i.e., actively adjust abnormal standing posture) to assessed whether two persons with multiple disabilities would be able to actively correct their standing posture by controlling their favorite stimulation on/off using a Wii Balance Board with a newly developed standing posture correcting program (SPCP). The study was performed according to an ABAB design, in which A represented baseline and B represented intervention phases. Data showed that both participants significantly increased time duration of maintaining correct standing posture (TDMCSP) to activate the control system to produce environmental stimulation during the intervention phases. Practical and developmental implications of the findings were discussed.
Research in developmental disabilities, 2010 · doi:10.1016/j.ridd.2010.03.004