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Whether we are standing, walking or running, the force we exert on the ground mediates all our bodily movements. Measuring this force was a considerably difficult process, but now an easier and cheaper system exists through employing a Nintendo Wii Balance Board. Alaa Ahmed, an Assistant Professor in the department of Integrative Physiology, and her team of researchers developed a new program, using a Wii Balance Board, to gauge the force exertion and pressure distribution of an individual. Prior to this innovation, undergraduate students taking an Integrative Physiology course were unable to work with force plates as there were not enough for a whole class. Now, with the program created by Dr. Ahmed, post-doctoral fellow Dr. Helen Huang, and undergraduate student Andrew Kary, anyone can conduct this experiment and understand the data.

To track and manipulate the data, Ahmed and her team of researchers accessed the balance board from the back end and wrote a custom program. The Wii board is connected to a computer synced with the complimentary program to gather the data. When someone stands on the balance board, this program tracks and presents the metrics in real time. Though writing the code itself required significant programming expertise, the data from the Wii board is visualized on screen in a simple graph and is saved to Microsoft Excel for later analysis. “These on-screen images and the Wii Board help to make learning concepts more relatable,” Huang says, as it reframes an abstract concept in a familiar manner such as playing the actual Wii games or riding a snowboard. Now students can gain a more dynamic understanding of the effects that force and pressure distribution have on our movements. According to Ahmed, “The Wii and program we have developed provide inexpensive balance measurement equipment and [the] means for physiology students to analyze the recorded data. They don’t need any fancy programs or programming knowledge, just Excel.”

Not only are CU-Boulder students benefiting from the development of this program, but so are other university and high school students interested in the field of Integrative Physiology. Last summer, students from educational institutions besides CU came here to study the equipment and bring it back to their own universities. Currently, the department works with a handful of high school students who are conducting research with the Nintendo Wii Balance Board system. Numerous people are interested in the device because, as Ahmed stated, it “provides an inexpensive tool that will enhance understanding of basic biomechanic principles through hands-on application.”

This system will have a major impact on Integrative Physiology, but will also benefit other fields of study and industries as the system possesses uses outside of the lab. Health Sciences can employ this tool for rehabilitation and balance assessment, while Psychology could use it to test learning and attention. Outside of academia, it could serve to benefit personal trainers and athletes attempting to improve their balance. In physical therapy, the Wii board can be employed for rehabilitation purposes after a traumatic injury to help the person find the most effective movements. As the device continues to be developed and refined, it will likely begin entering more fields as people recognize how the tool can benefit them.

With this tool, people outside of the Integrative Physiology department at CU-Boulder are benefiting as it provides them with a cheap and effective tool to measure force. The Wii balance board is improving education for Integrative Physiology as it democratizes the research in this field by being relatively inexpensive and easy to use.

Dr. Ahmed and Dr. Helen Huang received an ASSETT Development Award for the Spring 2011 semester. Development Awards are given out each semester to CU professors using technology in their courses to drive education into the 21st Century.