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A Wii bit of back pain

Belatedly, I joined the craze and had a go on one of my friend’s Wii games the other weekend. Terrific stuff: I played the golf, tennis, ten-pin bowling and shooter games. Bloody marvellous. You do need to get a large-enough television to make it work; unfortunately, I don’t really want to mess up my sitting room by putting a huge plasma screen on the wall, but some of my friends seem to be less squeamish.

The main downside, I find, is that if you are playing this game and have not stretched and warmed up properly first, you can actually do a bit of damage. The next morning, when I woke up, the left side of my back was quite painful. This is what happens to a 41-year-old wealth management geek who has not spent enough time doing sport for real. Time to turn off the technology and put on the training shoes.

A link to some Wii-related injuries. I wait for the first politician to try and bleat about the “Wii menace”.

12 comments to A Wii bit of back pain

  • You’ll be wanting Wii Fit that comes out this Friday then…

  • I haven’t gamed for ages and was thinking of getting back into my heavy, serious, PC games like Civ and SimCity and flight sims.

    I have always regarded Nintendo as being for kids but the Wii looks good. I’m almost tempted.

  • Nick M: If you want heavy, serious and a flight sim, may I suggest Falcon: Allied Force. You can even get fit lugging the manual round if you print it out (struggling to stay on topic here).

  • DavidNcl

    I bought a wii on friday (and I’m sufficently plebian to have a big telly 🙂

    It’s great but omg my right arm is throbbing from wii tenis. Fat, Fifty and Foolish I maybe but it’s terrific fun.

  • MikeG

    Is there a left handed version?

  • Jason

    To MikeG

    For most games it doesn’t matter, for games like Tennis and Bowling etc. you tell the Wii what hand you are using before you start playing.

  • Links are in the Engadget site, but in case anyone missed ’em…

    http://www.wiihaveaproblem.com/

    Classic.

    Broken TVs seem the most common problem.

  • The best video game currently on the market? The Half-Life mod called Counter-Strike.

    It’s an FPS so probably of little interest to cerebral types like yourselves, but I refuse to let a thread nominally centred on video gaming to go without a mention for CS.

    Over 7 years old the game is still run on 2 x more servers than all other MMFPS combined.

    Fire in the hole!

  • Tom

    Lol! The Wii is standard definition so an HDTV will just expose blemishes. The larger the TV the worse the quality! It works fine on any size TV.

  • Kim

    I am 42 and the right side of my back is having spasms. I played Wii bowling and tennis with my son and we did the best out of 5. Whew!!

  • Here’s a few exercises to do if you feel you’ve overdone the tennis or feeling the pinch from boxing. 🙂

    Lie on the floor with a rolled up towel under your lower back. Bring both knees together and feet flat on the floor. Move both knees to the left for 5 secs and then back to centre, then move both knees to the right for 5 secs and back to centre. Hold for a few secs at either side. Then bring both knees towards your chest for 5 secs and back to centre. Hold for a few secs at chest. Try these exercises and see how you get on.
    Flexibak Back Pain Relief(Link)

  • I had a backache, sciatic nerve problem. After trying many solutions, I tried a Health Clinic Masso Sante Beauport, so my problem is solved. The clinic is member of many associations, they can help you.

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