GameBall: the development of a novel platform to provide enjoyable and affordable hand and arm rehabilitation following stroke

Abstract

Purpose: Poor arm recovery post-stroke can lead to increased dependence, reduced quality of life, and is a strong predictor of lower psychological wellbeing following stroke. Effective treatment interventions are characterised by repetitive practice. This repetitive nature can make doing exercises boring, and coupled with a lack of community resources ongoing rehabilitation of the arm is challenging. Therefore effective home-based stroke rehabilitation devices that are motivating and enjoyable to use, and affordable are needed. This study aimed to seek feedback from stroke survivors on a prototype gaming device to determine if they could independently use the device, assess levels of comfort and engagement with the specially designed games. GameBall is a portable device that uses either a hand controller and/or GameBands, easy-to-put-on arm bands (determined by the ability and arm movement of the stroke survivor) that allows all-in-one arm training through uniquely designed rehabilitation games displayed on a tablet.