Earlier today we ran a story in which
The Sun newspaper quoted Dr Dev Mukerjee (a specialist in Paediatric Rheumatology) at the Broomfield Hospital, Chelmsford as saying that
hospital admissions due to 'Wi-itis' had risen by 100% over an unspecified period.
We said we found all this difficult to believe and were going to ask the good doctor for the facts. We did, and Dr Mukerjee has kindly responded with the following.
"I have seen a few injuries related to patients using the Wii.
"I do NOT think its anything to do with the Wii itself, but rather the player over using the device.
There is no epidemic- I used to see 3 or 4 injuries and over the last few months there have been 7 to 10.
"The quote about 10 people admitted to hospital is INCORRECT. 10 people have been seen recently in hospital clinics is the fact.
"Broomfield (hospital) doesn't keep specific Wii stats, but we do have soft tissue rheumatism stats under which this type of injury belongs, and we haven't seen a great rise."
So, there you go then.