Design of technology-based rehabilitation pathways: the experience of Santobono-Pausilipon Hospital

Abstract

The fields of rehabilitation robotics and virtual reality (VR) are becoming a growing area in the clinical rehabilitation of people with motion impairments. These systems have the potential to assess abilities through physiological measurements and modelling activities such as posture, gait, and balance. They can be used as rehabilitative tools by providing patients with task-specific training in a motivating and engaging way too. Although the potential advantages of such systems, until now there is a general limitation of their use in rehabilitative practice. Robotics and VR systems can be challenging, engaging and fun, particularly for children with disabilities, since they are often not very motivated to comply with conventional therapy. The aim of this work is to accurately describe the clinical use of innovative rehabilitative technologies and their use for the development of two technology-based rehabilitation pathways for the treatment of gait disorders following obesity and neurological diseases in treatment of pediatric patients.