Gamifying Motor Rehabilitation Therapies: Challenges and Opportunities of Immersive Technologies

Abstract

Recovering from a traumatic incident (e.g, a stroke) implies rigorous and demanding therapies to ensure recovery of the lost capabilities. Due to the lack of short-term visible results, stroke patients tend to lose interest in their recovery process and frequently do not follow their therapists’ suggestions to continue performing their training at home, between physiotherapy sessions. This article explores the extent to which common computer games or specifically crafted games can serve as a rehabilitation practice, but also how conventional therapeutic devices might be transformed to be incorporated into games. Furthermore, we propose a platform that follows the opportunity of creating serious games that are designed for stroke patients with reduced upper limb mobility while following the same principles of common therapeutic procedures. This platform was carefully built with the purpose of allowing patients to comply tele-rehabilitation and promoting the execution of the recommended training at home. Following these ideas, we integrated two carefully designed games that have been tested and validated in our previous works, and we added a top-layer characterized by an online back-end application for therapists that allows them to observe their patients’ progress over time and draw different conclusions.