Abstract
Abstract Introduction: The recovery of stroke patients is long and boring due to the repetitive nature of the exercises used and the length of treatment. Thus, we started using virtual reality as an alternative and, because of its advantages, health professionals are adapting video games for physical therapy. However, there are some limitations, such as the fact that games are designed for entertainment and not for therapeutic purposes. Objective: In order to mitigate gaps in assistive devices for physical therapy, this study describes the development and applicability of a computer support system for motor rehabilitation - Ikapp - in stroke victims. Methods: Twenty-seven stroke patients filled out a socioeconomic questionnaire, tested Ikapp during five minutes and answered a usability and satisfaction questionnaire about handling the tool. The chi-square test was used to analyze any association between sociodemographic factors and the features of the system. Results: The Ikapp system can be an excellent device to assist neurological rehabilitation of stroke patients, as participants questionnaires showed that 85.2% were satisfied in regard to motivation and inclusion of Ikapp in physiotherapy and 77.8% relative to ease of interaction with the tool. Conclusion: The Ikapp system proved to be an easy-to-use and accessible computer support system for patients with functional limitations.
Highlights
The recovery of stroke patients is long and boring due to the repetitive nature of the exercises used and the length of treatment
Location, study period and recruitment of individuals. This descriptive study was approved by the Research Ethics Committee of the Health Sciences Center of the Universidade Federal de Pernambuco (UFPE) and enrolled stroke victims from the Applied Neuroscience Laboratory (LANA) and the Hospital das Clinicas, both of the UFPE
The results of this study show the potential of Ikapp as a tool to assist rehabilitation after strokes, as its applicability tests showed high levels of satisfaction in relation to motivation, inclusion of the device in physical therapy and interaction with the virtual environments (VE)
Summary
The recovery of stroke patients is long and boring due to the repetitive nature of the exercises used and the length of treatment. We started using virtual reality as an alternative and, because of its advantages, health professionals are adapting video games for physical therapy. Objective: In order to mitigate gaps in assistive devices for physical therapy, this study describes the development and applicability of a computer support system for motor rehabilitation - Ikapp - in stroke victims. Studies show that physiotherapy does improve arm movement, the ef icacy is heterogeneous [4], as 75% of patients fail to restore limb function [3]. Considering the dif icult task of recuperating the function of the affected arm, the repetitive nature of exercises and the long time to recovery highlight the need to invest in technological resources that associate leisure and therapy to reduce the tiring and discouraging character of physiotherapy (5 - 7). Studies are evaluating virtual reality (VR) as an alternative to conventional therapy [8, 9]
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