Modified home video game shows promise for stroke rehabilitationAugust 29, 2006Engineers at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, have modified a popular home video game system to assist stroke patients with hand exercises, producing a technology costing less than $600 that may one day rival systems 10 times as expensive. The Rutgers hand rehabilitation system is an example of virtual rehabilitation, which combines virtual reality - computer-generated interactive visual environments in which users control actions in a lifelike way - with traditional therapy techniques. Virtual rehabilitation gives therapists new tools to do their jobs more effectively and engages patients who may otherwise lack interest or motivation to complete normal exercise regimens. The Rutgers engineers are describing their work at the fifth International Workshop on Virtual Rehabilitation taking place Aug. 29 and Aug. 30 in New York City.
"Virtual reality is showing significant promise for promoting faster and more complete rehabilitation, but the cost of many systems is still prohibitive for widespread deployment in outpatient clinics or patients' homes," said Grigore Burdea, professor of electrical and computer engineering and a noted inventor of virtual rehabilitation technology. "While it's essential to keep pursuing breakthrough technologies that will initially be costly, it's just as important that we find ways to make innovative treatments accessible to the many patients who need them." Rutgers' low-cost hand rehabilitation system is based on the commercially available Microsoft Xbox video game and Essential Reality P5 gaming glove that detects finger and wrist motions to manipulate on-screen images. The engineers made minor modifications to the equipment and created software that delivers two types of finger flexing exercises needed to help recover hand functions in stroke patients. In one exercise, a patient attempts to wipe clean four vertical bars of "dirty" pixels that obscure a pleasant image on a computer display. The bars are erased in proportion to each finger's flexing motion, giving the patient immediate feedback on his or her performance. And in an exercise to promote finger flexing speed, a patient tries to make a fist quickly enough to "scare away" a butterfly flitting around on the screen. The engineers noted that the gaming glove they use doesn't have the accuracy and resolution of gloves designed specifically for rehabilitation, nor can it measure exact joint movement or provide force feedback. But such systems may be attractive for clinics that can't afford more expensive equipment and could open the door for supplemental home training with remote monitoring by a clinician over an Internet connection. Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey | |||||||||||||||||||||
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Related Stroke Rehabilitation Current Events and Stroke Rehabilitation News Articles New hope for stroke patients If a stroke patient doesn't get treatment within approximately the first three hours of symptoms, there's not much doctors can do to limit damage to the brain. Transcending Boundaries From understanding climate change to predicting infectious disease outbreaks to engineering solutions to address disability, scientific research is increasingly crossing the boundaries between disciplines. Depression after stroke: a neglected problem People who have had a stroke and the people who are close to them need more support in order to manage the consequences of stroke. New Device for Stroke Patients Improves Walking Among stroke survivors, one common difficulty is foot drop, a partial leg paralysis that prevents the foot from lifting - causing instability and difficulty walking. New Device for Stroke Patients Improves Walking Among stroke survivors, one common difficulty is foot drop, a partial leg paralysis that prevents the foot from lifting " causing instability and difficulty walking. Constraint-induced movement therapy is effective in rehabilitating stroke patients Stroke patients who receive constraint-induced movement therapy (CIMT)-a rehabilitative technique that restrains the less-impaired arm, show significant improvement in arm and hand function, according to a seven-center national study led by Emory University researchers. Occupational therapy improves independence in stroke survivors Occupational therapy significantly reduces the risk of deterioration after stroke, according to a new systematic review. New studies shed light on stroke prevention and management Coinciding with National Stroke Week in Australia (19-25 September 2005) is the release of results from two recent stroke studies from the George Institute for International Health that investigate both the causative factors as well as a little studied outcome of stroke, that of depression. £250,000 for clinical trials of functional strength training for the lower limb The University of Manchester and St George's Hospital Medical School, in collaboration with Manchester Metropolitan University, have been awarded £250,000 by the PPP Foundation to carry out clinical pilot studies into functional strength training of lower limbs in patients who have suffered a stroke. As a cure for a stroke is not yet on the horizon, the focus is on rehabilitation in an endeavour to reverse brain damage caused by stroke. The study is part of a large programme of collaborative investigation between Manchester and St George's. This ambitious programme is aimed to develop and evaluate novel methods of rehabilitation based on what scientific investigation into animals and Early Promise For Stroke Patients Given A preliminary study published in this week’s issue of THE LANCET suggests that the neurotransmitter precursor levodopa used in combination with physiotherapy could improve motor recovery for patients after stroke. Hemiplegia (paralysis to one side of the body) causes functional disability after stroke. Physiotherapy used to be the only way of improving motor function in such patients. However, administration of amphetamines in addition to exercise has been found to improve motor recovery in animals, probably by increasing the concentration of the neurotransmitter norepinephrine in the central nervous system. Klaus Scheidtmann and colleagues from Bad Aibling Neurological Hospital, Germa More Stroke Rehabilitation Current Events and Stroke Rehabilitation News Articles |
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