Advantages and Limitations of Leap Motion from a Developers', Physical Therapists', and Patients' Perspective.

BACKGROUND: Physical rehabilitation exergames (PREGs) are suitable for motivating patients toward completing treatments. Leap Motion (LM) is a motion sensor that may be useful for developing PREGs targeted at hands and fingers rehabilitation. Therefore, knowing the advantages and limitations of LM is relevant to understand under which conditions this sensor may be suitable. OBJECTIVE: In this article, we present a qualitative study to identify the main advantages and limitations of LM for PREGs. METHODS: We collect data using interviews with a group of PREGs developers, physical therapy experts, and patients. We employ the thematic analysis method to analyze the collected data. RESULTS: We found that the advantages and limitations of LM are related to (1) the role as PREG development tool that enables hand movements detection, (2) the capability to be a mobile and easy-to-use capturing technology, and (3) the contribution to add value in rehabilitation therapy by motivating physical therapists and patients to use PREGs. CONCLUSION: The analysis shows that LM is a suitable and cost-effective solution for developing usable PREGs for some hand and finger rehabilitation movements with a moderate development effort. However, the development maturity of LM poses limitations related to reliability and robustness, preventing the use of LM as a standalone physical rehabilitation tool. Our findings serve as guidelines for developers and physical therapists during the development and use of PREGs targeted at hands and fingers, guiding the decision-making process during feasibility analysis and design stages.

Characterising Physical Rehabilitation Exergames for Player Experience Evaluation Purposes.

The constraints that physical rehabilitation exergames (PREGs) may impose on Player Experience (PX) evaluation should be identified from a physiotherapists' perspective. In this paper, we present the results of a qualitative study to identify the characteristics and constraints that are relevant to evaluate PX in PREGs. The study included semi-structured interviews conducted during two sessions with three physiotherapists from a local hospital. The collected data was analysed using the thematic content analysis method. The findings indicate that the PX evaluation constraints are related to (a) the rehabilitation context in which PREGs are employed; (b) the pursued rehabilitation goal (i.e., the capability of a PREG to assist the achievement of a rehabilitation goal); and (c) the characteristics of target patients, which may affect their experience and willingness to play. The findings of the study contribute to a comprehensive understanding of PX in PREGs. We concluded that the three groups of constraints may impact the three constructs of PX; i.e., context (rehabilitation context), player (patient) and game system (PREG system). Confirming the need to propose or extend PX models of entertaining games for the case of PREGs.

Improving Patient Motivation Towards Physical Rehabilitation Treatments with PlayTherapy Exergame.

A key problem in physical rehabilitation treatments is patient motivation since those treatments involve slow, repetitive, and often painful movements. Consequently, little progress may be achieved after a session, leading to longer or even uncompleted treatments. In this paper, PlayTherapy a platform to assist physical rehabilitation treatments is described. PlayTherapy is composed of two main components: (i) a rehabilitation digital exergame, consisting of a set of movement based and interactive mini-games; (ii) an information management system that keeps patient personal progress. Both components were developed in collaboration with a group of physiotherapists. Additionally, a User Experience (UX) evaluation, involving a group of physiotherapists and patients, is presented. This evaluation showed that the inclusion of PlayTherapy in physical rehabilitation treatments may increase patient motivation.