ReHoblet — A home-based rehabilitation game on the tablet

Abstract

We present ReHoblet; a physical rehabilitation game on tablets, designed to be used in a residential setting. ReHoblet trains two gross motor movements of the upper limbs by lifting (up-down) and transporting (leftright) the tablet to control a simple platform game. By using its accelerometers and gyroscope, the tablet is capable of detecting movements made by the user and steer the interaction based on this data. A formative evaluation with five Multiple Sclerosis (MS) patients and their therapists showed high appreciation for ReHoblet. Patients stated they liked ReHoblet not only to improve their physical abilities, but to train on performing technology-related tasks. Based on the results, we reflect on tablet-based games in home-based rehabilitation.

iPad Use in Stroke Neuro-Rehabilitation

“…In addition to improving functional recovery, several qualitative data demonstrates high acceptance and satisfaction of iPad-based rehabilitation programmes by stroke survivors [27,28,29,30,31,50]. Qualitative data presented by White et al (2014) from 12 stroke survivors investigated stroke survivors’ acceptability of iPad-based rehabilitation in the first 3 months of recovery [30].…”

“…As patients have easy access to iPads at home, some trials examined the feasibility and benefit of iPad-based home or community rehabilitation (Table 2) [27,33,56]. Kurland et al (2014) studied the effectiveness of iPad use in home setting for enhancing and maintaining post-stroke aphasia recovery (object and verb naming) following a 2 week intensive speech and language therapy [56].…”

iPad Use in Stroke Neuro-Rehabilitation

“…In addition to improving functional recovery, several qualitative data demonstrates high acceptance and satisfaction of iPad-based rehabilitation programmes by stroke survivors [27][28][29][30][31]50]. Qualitative data presented by White et al (2014) from 12 stroke survivors investigated stroke survivors' acceptability of iPad-based rehabilitation in the first 3 months of recovery [30].…”

A Robot-Based Tool for Physical and Cognitive Rehabilitation of Elderly People Using Biofeedback

“…One such example is a home-based physical rehabilitation game for tablets, developed by researchers from Hasselt University in Belgium [13] or a pilot study carried out by Eindhoven University in the area of both physical and cognitive rehabilitation designed for stroke patients [14]. Furthermore, there are other ICT-based applications, whose potential users are not elderly people, but which also try to boost both physical and cognitive rehabilitation of different groups, such as children with cerebral palsy (CP), people with Down syndrome, etc.…”