Playful Stimulation against Parkinson: a Tentative Exploration

Abstract

Virtual rehabilitation through the games is an emerging and promising treatment for patients suffering from Parkinson’s disease (PD), which combines exercise with gaming to provide playful and enjoyable physiotherapeutic sessions even at home. In this way, exercises can be performed more frequently and effectively, as the player would be best engaged with the game. In this thesis we intend to design and develop an exergame using current interface technologies to encourage PD patients for sticking to the therapeutic sessions. The design part of the game is enriched from the old Persian and Portuguese geometrical design. The game is using the MYO armband gesture recognition system for user’s interaction with the game environment. The developed game was tested with volunteer participants to evaluate the extent of effects and possible improvements on the mental and physical aspects of patients suffering from PD.