Geometric and Behavioral Modeling Techniques in Construction of a Virtual Environment for Rehabilitation of Post-CVA Patients through a Serious Game

Abstract

Stroke is a serious disease, which is the third-largest cause of death in the world and the number one cause of sequelae in the US. In fact, studies show that about 66% of survivors of a stroke will have their limbs weakened and dysfunctional. Because of this, many stroke survivors, especially those with sequelae, need physical therapy to rehabilitate their motor skills. It is known that effective rehabilitation should be intensive and repetitive, which leads to the challenge of how to keep patients motivated. Therefore, in this article, we present a serious game, with Virtual Reality techniques, which aims to assist in the rehabilitation exercises of upper limbs post-stroke. Although there are similar initiatives in the literature, the differential of this proposal is based on three fundamentals: the photorealism of the game, the possibility of integrating game results with patients' medical records, from there the health professional's ability to configure the game to meet new rehabilitation protocols and finally the integration with a robotic exoskeleton that will support arm movements. In this article, the geometric and behavioral modeling methods developed and used for game production are described.