The success of stroke rehabilitation requires the patient engage in early, long-term high repetitions and intensive treatment. When comparing clinical and literature statistics, it is confirmed that clinical rehabilitation is not achieving required repetitions and intensity for effective rehabilitation of basic motor skills as prescribed in physiotherapy literature. It is then the patient’s responsibility to carry out the rehabilitation at home without supervision. These exercises can also be very mundane and repetitive, which reduces the patient’s motivation to exercise. Exergames have been found (Alankus et al., 2010, p. 21130, (King, Hijmans, Sampson, Satherley, & Hale, 2012 Deutsch et al., 2009), (Mortazavi et al., 2014), (Shirzad et al., 2015).to improve patients’ engagement with their therapies at home.
Currently there are systems to facilitate lower limb stroke rehabilitation,but none includes Strength for Task Training (STT). STT is a novel physiotherapeutic method for lower limb rehabilitation and comprises of two main phases: first being the strength training (priming) and second being the task training. Priming is brief weight lifting to excite the neural pathways (neuroplasticity) in the affected region, which primes the brain for learning; this is then promptly followed by task training to maximise gains in the locomotor ability.
This project builds up on the research and development of a game controller by Duncan (2016) for lower limb stroke rehabilitation to facilitate STT. This project is a collaboration with Regan Petrie who designed the media aspect of the exergame system.
A game controller was developed and this was part of a complete exergaming system which was designed to specifically facilitate STT. This project compiles more research findings together with feedback from the user and the clinicians to help improve the system. This was to ensure that the design is aligned to the specific requirements of functional STT rehabilitation and contextual needs of the patient.
The final output is a pair of prototype shoes which included a sensor to measure movement, a pair of weighted sleeve and a pair of balance sole. The weighted sleeve has removable weights and facilitates the strength part of the training. The shoes are the adaptors which allow the user to the balance soles which is used to constantly challenge the user’s balance. The sensors translate limb movement and are for the user to interact with the game. This system provides a simple and safe method to engage in unsupervised STT.
Feedback from clinicians indicates that the shoes can facilitate the strength part of the exercise, the sensors the task part of the training, and the balance sole is useful for challenging and improving balance. User testing sessions offer information about: the usability of the system, including ease of use and intuitive design; the aesthetics of the physical objects and whether the system is engaging patients in their therapies.
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