These surprisingly vigorous workouts are being triggered by Nintendo's new Wii videogames. The Wii game console, which went on sale last weekend, competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's new PlayStation 3. One of the Wii's distinguishing features is a motion-sensitive technology that requires players to act out their character's movements, wielding the game's controller like a sword or swinging it like a tennis racket.

The new console has been wildly successful, selling out at stores and winning high marks from critics and game buffs. But as players spend more time with the Wii, some are noticing that hours waving the game's controller around can add up to fairly intense exertion — resulting in aches and pains common in more familiar forms of exercise. They're reporting aching backs, sore shoulders — even something some have dubbed "Wii elbow."
—Jamin Warren, "A Wii Workout: When Videogames Hurt," The Wall Street Journal, November 25, 2006

"The Wii gives you one good workout," says Ismaili."Both guys were sore the next day."

The soreness and joint pain has become common enough that gamers have coined the term "Wii elbow."
—Matthew Chung, "A bad case of Wii whack," The Toronto Star, December 3, 2006

"The games don't always require exaggerated motions," said Noah Musler, director of artists and repertoire at Sega. "You don't want people to get Wii elbow."
—Ryan Kim, "The motion is the notion," The San Francisco Chronicle, September 25, 2006