A Projected AR Serious Game for Shoulder Rehabilitation Using Hand-Finger Tracking and Performance Metrics: A Preliminary Study on Healthy Subjects

• Published in: Electronics (Basel) Vol. 12; no. 11; p. 2516
• Main Authors: Viglialoro, Rosanna M., Turini, Giuseppe, Carbone, Marina, Condino, Sara, Mamone, Virginia, Coluccia, Nico, Dell’Agli, Stefania, Morucci, Gabriele, Ryskalin, Larisa, Ferrari, Vincenzo, Gesi, Marco
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Basel MDPI AG 01.06.2023
• Subjects: Abnormalities; Acceleration; Augmented Reality; Business metrics; Care and treatment; Computer & video games; Computer games; Debugging; Educational software; Fingers; Games; Hand (anatomy); Interfaces; Keyboards; Patients; Performance measurement; Physical therapy; Rehabilitation; Shoulder injuries; Software engineering; Technology application; Therapeutics, Physiological; Tracking; Virtual reality; Italy; United States > US
• ISSN: 2079-9292; 2079-9292
• DOI: 10.3390/electronics12112516

Research studies show that serious games can increase patient motivation regardless of age or illness and be an affordable and promising solution with respect to conventional physiotherapy. In this paper, we present the latest evolution of our system for shoulder rehabilitation based on hand-finger tracking and projected augmented reality. This version integrates metrics to assess patient performance, monitors the game progress, and allows the selection of the game visualization mode (standard on-screen or projected augmented reality). Additionally, the new software tracks the velocity, acceleration, and normalized jerk of the arm-hand movements of the user. Specifically, sixteen healthy volunteers (eight technical and eight rehabilitation experts) tested our current prototype. The results showed that the serious game is engaging, its design is ergonomically sound, and the overall system could be a useful tool in shoulder rehabilitation. However, clinical validation is needed to assess that the serious game has the same effects as the selected therapy. This is the preliminary step toward laying the foundation for future studies that investigate abnormalities in shoulder movements by using hand-finger tracking.