Supportive neurological rehabilitation using the wiimote technology

This was my Bachelor thesis back in 2010. Even then I was aiming at connecting gaming and healthcare for humans in need.

Memory was also subject of training. Here the numbers on the balloons vanished and the number increased at each step

Synopsis:

The bachelor thesis aims to develop an application for the target group of neurologically impaired motor skills. The disease symptoms are triggered for example by cerebellum diseases, ataxia or Parkinson’s syndrome.

After many serious illnesses, it is necessary to prepare the body of the patient by training (rehabilitation) back to everyday stresses. This is a lengthy, often not very motivating process. Nevertheless, since rehabilitation can and should not be waived, the solution to this problem is to motivate and encourage patients to independently perform exercises that help restore or maintain their physical performance. Regular exercise should cause better blood circulation, a reduction in muscle tension and a movement drive. In addition, exercise trains the heart and circulation, promotes the digestive system and the immune system also benefits from regular exercise. Alternating with motor exercises, rest periods are specifically used to give the patient relaxation and concentration, or to integrate exercises of autogenic training, such as heat and weight exercises.

In order to enable independent exercises and to generate motivation, an interaction with an interactive system should take place. Since it is very unlikely that one e.g. Patients with Parkinson’s disease require physiotherapy several times a day (mobility, costs, etc.), a therapy-supporting application for outpatient home therapy would make sense.

Example for forced movement templates

For the realization of such a therapeutic support at home, it is advisable to develop an application that works by means of AV media and an interface that covers the physical movement in the room. Specifically, the use of a Wii Remote is intended here, which allows a cost-effective two-dimensional detection of the movement, which is sufficient for this purpose.

In the bachelor thesis it is to be evaluated, whether patients by means of targeted motivation to specific exercises willingly undergo a lengthy rehabilitation.

External Link: [Link] University of Lübeck – IMIS (German)