Rehabilite game+: jogos sérios baseados em gestos para a Reabilitação de movimentos da mão e antebraço

Abstract

Motor sequelae in the hand and forearm can result from various diseases or injuries, such as a stroke or bone fractures. As a result, the patient has limitations or inability to perform movements in the affected limb, becoming dependent on the help of third parties to perform activities in their daily lives, which compromises their quality of life. Prevented from performing simple functions such as rotating the forearm (pronation and supination movements) or opening and closing the hand (flexion and extension movements of the fingers), rehabilitation for these patients tends to be discouraging due to repetitive exercises. Serious games for motor rehabilitation, also called exergames, can motivate patients in the exercise sessions needed to recover the compromised limb, in addition to detecting and guiding the correct execution of movements, so acting as an auxiliary tool in the patient’s treatment process. The objective of this study is to extend the Rehabilite Game platform, developing and evaluating serious games focused on the rehabilitation of hand and forearm movements, thus creating Rehabilite Game+. The Rehabilite Game is played by users according to settings previously established by professional physiotherapists, which must be based on the specific treatment of each patient. For the development of Rehabilite Game+, the co-design methodology was used, with the participation of physiotherapists and psychologists. The result was a list of functional and non-functional requirements, which were implemented in Rehabilitate Game+. The games for the rehabilitation of hand and forearm movements were then evaluated, then achieving good performance in terms of usability and user experience (92.5 in the SUS average, and scores between 1.46 and 1.98 on the UEQ scales). Furthermore, the motion recognition techniques implemented in the game achieved high hit rates (F1-score of 0.98 and 0.99 for forearm pronation and supination, respectively, and 1.00 for finger flexion and extension). We conclud that Rehabilite Game+ is able to be used in clinical trials with patients.