INTEGRATION OF VIRTUAL REALITY GAME-BASED UPPER EXTREMITY MOVEMENT MEASUREMENT SYSTEM FOR CEREBRAL PALSY CHILDREN USING KINECT

Abstract

Cerebral Palsy (CP) is a neurological disorder resulting from abnormal development in the motor cortex of the brain, leading to neuromuscular dysfunction. Problems with functional movement in CP children, especially in upper extremities, affect activities of daily living (ADLs). Generally, people with neurological diseases need physical training programs to enhance their functional motions. Physical exercise is a traditional method that requires direct observation and feedback from physicians or therapists during the treatment. Several research studies adopted commercial video games for treatment programs. To achieve the objectives of training, specific movement patterns are required. Commercial video games are too difficult for CP children because of their complex movements required in each game. To develop functional movement capabilities, virtual reality (VR)-based training programs are developed with specifically designed movements. The design movement is utilized to enhance the upper limb’s functional movements. In this study, the invention is developed as an underlying Microsoft Kinect sensor to rehabilitate and collect data during the treatment of each individual. In this study, the results in the calibration process, the accuracy of Kinect were high levels for all games. Due to playing each game mode, there were approximately 1–2 % of passing the thresholds that were set from the calibration process. The findings revealed that the sensitivity and specificity were 0.94 and 0.96 for Kinect sensor.