Just wondering if anyone can shed some light on the use of the Wii by person with implants such as pacemakers etc. I am working with a patient at the moment who has been told by his cardiologist to not use the Wii due to him having a implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD). There doesn't seem to be any 'research' into the area, just speculation and word of mouth from peoples consultants.

My understanding is that the Wii does emit radio frequencies from both the WiiMote and balance board, in the form of Bluetooth, so surely any risk cannot be any more significant than the use of mobiles phones and other Bluetooth technologies?! Reports I have found suggest Bluetooth is safe - so what is it about the Wii that makes it contraindicated?

If anyone has any thoughts or information on this, I would be very interested,
Thanks

Hi there.

As far as I understand it, the Wii Remote and Balance boards simply use normal Bluetooth technology to communicate. Personally I would be surprised if it was any more of a problem than other bluetooth devices, such as a mouse and keyboard for a normal computer.

We know the technology used is standard Bluetooth because if you have the right softtware you can connect a Wii Remote to a PC or Mac and use it to control it (I've done this myself).

I would also be very surprised if pacemakers and ICDs were not designed to be resistent to such a prevalent technology as Bluetooth.

However I'm definitely not an expert in such devices, I think the only people who are going to know one way or the other are the manufacturers of the devices in question.