Stroke is the main cause of motor and cognitive disabilities requiring therapy in the world. Therefor it is important to develop rehabilitation technology that allows individuals who had suffered a stroke to practice intensive movement training without the expense of an always-present therapist. We have developed a low-cost vision-based system that allows stroke survivors to practice arm movement exercises at home or at the clinic, with periodic interactions with a therapist. The system integrates a virtual environment for facilitating repetitive movement training, with computer vision algorithms that track the hand of a patient, using an inexpensive camera and a personal computer. This system, called Gesture Therapy, includes a gripper with a pressure sensor to include hand and finger rehabilitation; and it tracks the head of the patient to detect and avoid trunk compensation. It has been evaluated in a controlled clinical trial at the National Institute for Neurology and Neurosurgery in Mexico City, comparing it with conventional occupational therapy. In this paper we describe the latest version of the Gesture Therapy System and summarize the results of the clinical trail.
Each year millions of people in the world survive a stroke. Movement impairments after stroke are typically treated with intensive, hands-on physical and occupational therapy for several weeks after the initial injury. However, due to economic pressures, stroke patients are receiving less therapy and going home sooner, so the potential benefit of the therapy is not completely realized. Thus, it is important to develop rehabilitation technology that allows individuals who had suffered a stroke to practice intensive movement training without the expense of an always-present therapist. We have developed a low-cost, computer vision system that allows individuals with stroke to practice arm movement exercises at home or at the clinic, with periodic interactions with a therapist. The system integrates a virtual environment for facilitating repetitive movement training, with computer vision algorithms that track the hand of a patient and obtain its 3-D coordinates, using an inexpensive camera and a conventional personal computer. The system, called "Gesture Therapy", is being evaluated in a controlled clinical trial at a hospital in Mexico City. In this paper we describe the system and discuss the results of a first clinical evaluation.
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