Article
Interactive serious game for shoulder rehabilitation based on real-time hand tracking
Technology and Health Care
(2020)
Abstract
Background: Virtual Reality (VR) is becoming popular in the rehabilitation field thanks to the several
advantages they can offer to patients and physicians. Indeed, serious games can: motivate and engage the
patient; offer different levels of challenge and difficulty based on the patient baseline; integrate objective
measures of patient’s performance during each rehabilitation session. Objective: a serious game is
designed for shoulder rehabilitation and based on real-time hand tracking. The aim is to maintain the
medical benefits of traditional rehabilitation, while reducing human resources and costs and facilitating
active patient participation. Methods: Our game provides the user with a shoulder horizontal adduction
exercise. This exercise takes place in a 2D interactive game environment, controlled by hand movements
on a desk pad. The hardware includes a standard desktop computer and screen, and the Leap Motion
Controller: a consumer-grade hand tracking system. The desk pad allows the physiotherapist to vary the
friction between the user hand and the desk pad. Results: Twenty healthy subjects and six rehabilitation
experts were enrolled to test our serious game. The results showed that the application is attractive,
ergonomic and clinically useful. Conclusion: Clinical validation is necessary to demonstrate the efficacy
of the proposed serious game.
Keywords
- Serious Game,
- Virtual Rehabilitation,
- Shoulder Disorders,
- Leap Motion Controller.
Disciplines
Publication Date
May 18, 2020
Citation Information
Rosanna Maria Viglialoro, Sara Condino, Giuseppe Turini, Virginia Mamone, et al.. "Interactive serious game for shoulder rehabilitation based on real-time hand tracking" Technology and Health Care Vol. 29 (2020) Available at: http://works.bepress.com/giuseppe-turini/19/