Two Wii Remotes offer cheap diagnosis of ocular torticollis

The Wii may be nearing the end of its life with the Wii U on the horizon, but that doesn’t mean new uses aren’t being found for the motion technology Nintendo surprised us with 6 years ago.

Researcher at the Seoul National University College of Medicine have found it is possible to diagnose ocular torticollis using two Wii Remotes. Torticollis occurs when head posture is affected and may tilt to one side. There are a number of causes, one of which is vision problems such as cranial nerve palsy which changes the diagnosis to ocular torticollis. Spotting this early, especially in infants, can see them respond very well to physical therapy.

The discovery that Nintendo’s controllers can help diagnose the cause is important due to the costs involved. Typically doctors rely on a cervical range of motion device (CROM) for diagnosis, but they cost upwards of $375. Alternatively, two Wii Remotes cost no more than $70.

The experiments carried out at the university involved attaching the Wii Remotes to a frame pointed at the patient and connected to a computer via Bluetooth. The patient then has several infrared LEDs placed on their head and motion checks are performed.

The results of this experimental setup were comparable to that of a CROM device in terms of both accuracy and reliability. Therefore, it could replace CROM devices for quick and cheap testing of ocular torticollis. More importantly, it could allow for such testing at locations where a CROM device is too expensive to consider.