Gran Turismo 5 Helps Rehabilitate Spinal Injury Patient
An occupational therapist at Tan Tock Seng Hospital in Singapore is using a new tool to help him rehabilitate patients who suffer from spinal injuries: Gran Turismo 5.
Ernest Thia started using the game when his patient, Winfield Lim, needed to re-qualify for his drivers license after he became semi-paralyzed below the chest due to falling in his home earlier this year.
In addition to traditional therapy methods, Mr. Lim drives the game for about half an hour during the session, while his therapist monitors coordination and reaction time with a Logitech Driving Force GT steering wheel and pedals.
Mr. Thia concedes the “game is actually meant for racing, so I have to put in some restrictions,” such as challenging the patient to obey a speed limit as his foot movements are tested.
Winfield Lim is now well on his way to recovery. “I was really down,” he said. “But the game brightened up my days. Because when you are playing, you are having fun. There is laughter all around, even from patients who are just watching me.”
You should follow GTPlanet on Facebook, and on Twitter @GTPlanetNews. You can also get GTPlanet's news by full-text RSS feed, or delivered via email, straight to your inbox every day.
Newest comments are displayed first.
-
December 13th, 2012 at 8:25 am - #roamer2629
I’ve been unable to work most of this year due to a skin condition (psoriasis) and the game has been a life saver for me. Long hours at home needing to calm down and forget about problems which would have been hell without something to get my mind off what was going on.
I was playing as soon as I could hold the controller again… -
December 11th, 2012 at 5:13 pm - #ORPHANTHIRTY7
Not surprised by this.
I had a really bad car wreak that i was really close to dying in. Long story short my right foot was ripped off and was close to loosing it. Basically had to learn to completely walk again. After the 2nd surgery I started to use my wheel for many hours in a day racing and drifting. And my doctor that wanted to see how my foot was healing about a week after I had the cast off. He was amazed he said “you been doing a lot of exercising at home huh” i told him that and it really helped regain movement before i started physical therapy to do weight barring stuff. It brought me to basically bring most of the movement back to my right foot in half the time.Take my advice don’t buy a ford
-
December 11th, 2012 at 2:04 pm - #phil_75
Back to bed son, its ABS off only here!
-
December 11th, 2012 at 10:57 am - #TurboProp
That is a very good use of GT5, great story and good luck!
-
December 10th, 2012 at 10:52 pm - #leexr2i
Some people will find any excuse to play a bit of gt..
-
December 10th, 2012 at 9:15 pm - #Clutchdj
Awesome
-
December 10th, 2012 at 3:23 pm - #SakuraHaruno
I pity the fool who don’t play no video games.
-
December 10th, 2012 at 2:05 pm - #HarVee
If Video gaming be the food of health, game on.
-
December 10th, 2012 at 1:32 pm - #shadez412
What speed limit? Hes going 126mph lol
-
December 10th, 2012 at 1:13 pm - #HKS racer
Nice to hear that. Good luck to all the people with spinal injuries. Don’t give up!
-
December 10th, 2012 at 12:51 pm - #Kobhalt
Next step: cure cancer :D
-
December 10th, 2012 at 7:51 pm - #MetastableRacer
“Its all in the reflexes!” Great News!
Look up Dr. Burzynski of the Burzynski Clinic of Houston Texas. Cancer cure is closer than u think!
-
-
December 10th, 2012 at 12:46 pm - #MoLiEG
Just wow! o.o
Excelent news! This proves wrong all the people that say videogames are bad for your health. -
December 10th, 2012 at 11:35 am - #Shacklock17
Thats excellent
-
December 10th, 2012 at 10:49 am - #emanuelmelo
As a Neurophysiology Tech and a GT5 addict, I fully and strongly approve this method! ;D
-
December 11th, 2012 at 8:47 am - #Efiv12
One in five divorced men agree
-
-
December 10th, 2012 at 8:09 am - #Richhard1
Totally true! I had a Spinal Injury back in 2009, doctor said I probably wouldn’t be able to walk again. GT5 helped me due to the way the mental agility and back/stomach strength is gained, admitidly it took a slow recovery time but now I’m able to walk, run and do some sporting activities again thanks to Polophony and Sony.
-
December 10th, 2012 at 7:33 am - #Drevenger
No need to put restrictions, just let them drive a Samba Bus.
… In 3D, cockpit view, no display :D -
December 10th, 2012 at 3:10 am - #MadmuppGT
Yet another story of Gran Turismo reaching out to worlds beyond video games, what with the SEMA awards, GT Academy and now this, its good to see the Gran Turismo brand getting out there.
-
December 10th, 2012 at 9:39 am - #TokoTurismo
+1 Agreed. At least this is one of the reasons what separates the GT series from other games, which is good imo. :)
-
-
December 10th, 2012 at 2:11 am - #GTP_CargoRat
Funny, I’ve been doing this very thing for the last year and a half. I was playing before my accident but as soon as I recovered enough to play, I was back at it. Suffer from pretty much the same semi-paralyzed spinal chord injuries plus other injuries. My therepist thought it was a very good idea when I told her what I was doing. The game has helped me greatly overcoming my physical injuries as well as my depression and anxiety that I suffer from. Glad to see others are benifitting from it also.
-
December 10th, 2012 at 4:56 am - #mr_pepps
Nice :)
-
-
December 10th, 2012 at 2:11 am - #Radracing
I’m sure its used to rehabilitate bad F1 drivers too. ;-)
GTPlanet on Google+
If only there was some cure to my epilepsy by playing GT.