This is Scientific
American’s 60 Second Science. I’m Steve Merski. Got a minute?
Well it had to happen
eventually. This week's New England Journal of Medicine features a
brand new diagnosis: wii-itis, which you get from overdoing it with the
Nintendo Wii. The case involved an otherwise healthy 29 year old
physician who woke up with intense right-shoulder pain. He consulted a
rheumatologist who determined that the problem was acute tendonitis in
the infraspinatus. That’s one of the rotator cuff muscles which have
ended many a major-league pitching career. Anyway the young doc
realized he’d gone a little nuts with his new Nintendo Wii, playing
virtual tennis. And since you’re not running around the court like in
real tennis you can just keep playing hour after hour after hour
thereby getting wiiitis, which is spelled interestingly W-I-I-I-T-I-S.
The first Nintendonitis diagnosis came in 1990, but that dealt with
thumb injuries from operating the kinds of games available then. With
the advent of the Wii, and virtual tennis, as well as golf, baseball,
bowling, even boxing, docs should be on the lookout for all kinds of
new wiiitis possibilities.
Thanks for the minute. For
Scientific American’s 60 Second Science, I’m Steve Merski.
II) My sample answers for the 5 steps
I asked to to follow are below.
1) I listened to the podcast 23 times.
2) Please
remember that the main idea should be expressed in a sentence and in
your own words.
The main idea is:
There is a new medical problem called 'wiiitis' , which is caused by
playing too much on a Nintendo Wii.
3) Please
remember that the three details should be sentences that make sense and
are in your own words.
Three details:
a. The original story was in the New England Journal of Medicine.
b. The doctor involved was 29 years old.
c. 'Nintendonitis' was used to describe thumb injuries.
4) The podcast was interesting because it told me about something I
knew
nothing about. My daughter used to playon a Wii when she visits
her
friends house and she loved the Wii. My wife, however, flatly
stated that we would not have a Wii in our house. However, as a reward
for passing her junior high school entrance exam, my wife allowed my
daughter to get a Wii. Interestingly, after a few months she became
bored with it and doesn't play it so often nowadays. I tried playing it
a few times, boxing, baseball, tennis and bowling. I didn't play for
such a long time, but I certainly felt a little pain in my arms the
next day. Wiiitis is definitely a problem that we should take care to
avoid. (130 words)
5) Please
remember that the results of your websearch should be written in your
own words. You can use quotes from articles, but the must not make up
the majority of what you have written.
I found that this story had been widely reported on the internet.
There was even a newspaper in Pakistan that carried the story. Apart
from news sites simply reporting the story, it was also talked about on
one or two blogs. Some of the people commenting on the blogs seemed to
think the doctor, who incidentally was a Spaniard by the name of Julio
Bonis, was rather stupid to have spent several hours playing on his
Wii. As a doctor he should have known better. I tend to agree with
them. I couldn't, however, find much information on the actual
condition of 'wiiitis', probably because it is such a new term.
However, doctors do expect that because the Nintendo Wii includes games
that mimic boxing, baseball and bowling, and more games are being
designed, doctors say that they expect wiiitis to affect different
groups of muscles. Physicians should be aware of this possibility when
they are trying to diagnose muscle problems. (161 words)
References (where the information in section 5 came from) Reuters If it's not tennis
elbow, it may be "Wiiitis"
online,
http://www.reuters.com/article/technologyNews/idUSN0616721120070606
(last accessed October 2007) Daily Times of Pakistan It's not tennis elbow,
it's wiiitis. online,
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2007%5C06%5C11%5Cstory_11-6-2007_pg6_1
(last accessed October
2007)