Motor Indicators for the Assessment of Frozen Shoulder Rehabilitation via a Virtual Reality Training System

Si-Huei Lee,Chang-Hsin Yeh,Chia-Ru Chung,Jianjun Cui,Shih-Ching Yeh,Lizheng Liu

doi:10.3390/electronics10060740

Abstract

Adhesive capsulitis (also known as frozen shoulder) is a common clinical shoulder disorder and can be effectively improved through physical rehabilitation. With advancements in technology, virtual reality (VR) has been increasingly employed in rehabilitation treatments. However, most relevant studies have merely employed traditional assessment tools to assess the therapeutic effects rather than the substantial amount of motor trajectory data or task performance collected by motor training systems. In this research, an innovative frozen shoulder rehabilitation system using a Microsoft Kinect sensor and VR was successfully developed and five task-oriented motor indices and task performance were proposed to assess motor performance. A clinical experiment involving twenty patients was conducted. Objective clinical assessment outcomes verified the effectiveness of the developed system for frozen shoulder rehabilitation. The improvements assessed according to motor indices and task performance were consistent with the objective clinical assessment results. Furthermore, correlation analysis showed that several items in the task performance and motor indices were significantly correlated to clinical assessment items. Moreover, numerous items in the task performance and motor indices capable of predicting the clinical assessment results were identified through stepwise regression analysis. The results of this research can facilitate the subsequent development of new assessment methods.

Highlights

IntroductionFrozen shoulder is a general term that refers to damage of the soft tissues, articular capsule, and joint cavity of the shoulder, and is a clinically common shoulder disorder
By using the motor trajectory data collected by the system and combining the virtual reality (VR) task content with the task goals, five new task-oriented motor indices and task performances were established for assessing movement performance
The effectiveness of this system for frozen shoulder rehabilitation was validated based on the objective clinical assessment results

Summary

Introduction

Frozen shoulder is a general term that refers to damage of the soft tissues, articular capsule, and joint cavity of the shoulder, and is a clinically common shoulder disorder. The goal for frozen shoulder treatments is to maintain and improve shoulder ROM and enhance muscle strength, thereby allowing patients to resume their normal activities as soon as possible [1]. Medicinal treatments include the consumption of medicines and steroid injections in the shoulder joints to relieve pain. The effects of medicinal treatments for patients with serious illness are limited. Alternative physical therapies are necessary to restore function in the shoulder joint [2]. Such physical therapies should emphasize the performance of appropriate articulated movements, stretches

Objectives

Discussion

Conclusion