title: Development and evaluation of a new telerehabilitation system based on VR technology using multisensory feedback for patients with stroke.
abstract: [Purpose] The purpose of this study was to develop a new telerehabilitation system based on VR technology for training of paralyzed upper and lower extremities and poor balance in patients with stroke. Moreover, the effectiveness of the system was verified by analysis of the recovery of these patients. [Subjects] Five healthy persons and five people with motor paralysis, caused by cerebrovascular disease, participated. [Methods] The features of our system are as follows: (1) Our system can train upper and lower limbs and balancing with 3D images. (2) A Kinect(®) is used for user posture detection. (3) A vibrator is used for feedback to a sensory receptor in order to promote the learning effect of motion. Upper limb and balance training were conducted in this study. [Results] The time necessary for the upper limb and balance training tasks was shortened for the participants with disabilities. The joint angle for the participants with disabilities tended to equate to that of the healthy participants over time. Moreover, our system had no side effects. [Conclusion] These points suggest that our system is effective and safe. The user interface and assessment of the conditions of patients from a distance should be studied in the future.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Therapy, Faculty of Health Science, Hokkaido University of Science, Japan ; Graduate School of Information Science and Technology, Hokkaido University, Japan.
authors.forename: Norio
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kato
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Therapy, Faculty of Health Science, Hokkaido University of Science, Japan ; Institute of Gerontology, The University of Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: Toshiaki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Tanaka
authors.affiliation: Graduate School of Information Science and Technology, Hokkaido University, Japan ; Sapporo Syuyukai Hospital, Japan.
authors.forename: Syunichi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sugihara
authors.affiliation: Graduate School of Information Science and Technology, Hokkaido University, Japan.
authors.forename: Koichi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Shimizu
keywords: Multisensory feedback; Telerehabilitation; Virtual Reality