A Tele-Rehabilitation Platform for Shoulder Motor Function Recovery Using Serious Games and an Azure Kinect Device

Abstract

Background: Tele-rehabilitation is gaining importance due to the increasing need for objectiveness in the evaluation of patients with impaired motor functions. Low-cost marker-less motion capture systems are becoming key enabling technologies as support in the treatment of musculoskeletal diseases. Objectives: The goal of this work is to investigate the use of the Microsoft Azure Kinect device to develop a tele-rehabilitation platform for shoulder motor function recovery. The platform comprehends a set of serious games, which are fundamental to increase the patients' engagement in shoulder rehabilitation. Methods: Starting from a set of functionalities identified together with the medical personnel of an Italian hospital, the Azure Kinect device has been used as motion capture system to interact with the serious games. Mobile applications for patients and physicians have been developed to manage the rehabilitation process. Results: The solution has been tested by the involved medical personnel. It has been considered interesting and promising. Further improvements in the design of the virtual environment of the serious games are required. Conclusion: The presented platform is a starting point to develop a complete IT solution for the daily shoulder rehabilitation.