The Nintendo Wii, a game system that requires users to act out the game with a motion-sensor controller, has become part of the therapy routine for a growing number of providers around the country.

Although its original intent was simply to be a fun way to spend some time, therapists using the system are swearing by its results.

“I got interested in it because of my nephew, who played it all the time,” says Lane Blondheim, MSPT, MT, owner and director of Active Health and Rehab in Montgomery, AL. “One day, I started playing a game with him and realized almost immediately that I could use this with my patients and it’d be fun for them.”