Sunday, September 24, 2006

Video games and prayer

Even a game, it seems, can help answer prayers.

According to a story from Reuters, researchers designed video "games" to improve stroke survivors' hand control:

According to Kira Morrow from The State University of New Jersey, Piscataway, and colleagues, the system consists of a modified Xbox that runs the training exercises, a virtual reality gaming glove that measures finger flexion and wrist position, a color monitor, and an Internet connection to a laptop used in software development.

Cost is cheap: $549, compared with more traditional systems that can run more than $17,000.

Personally, my hand control came back fairly quickly, although to this day my fine motor skills are not quite what they used to be. But the Xbox story reminded me of my own use of some of my daughters' "educational" toys to regain speaking and writing skills.

With all the complaints -- many completely justified -- about violent and distasteful video games, they can also give a hand to stroke victims.