A Design Method of Tele-Rehabilitation Platforms for Post-Stroke Patients Based on Consumer Technology

Abstract

Background: Telerehabilitation represents a new cutting-edge method in the treatment of patients suffering from motor and cognitive disorders caused by stroke. Even if there exist dedicated devices able to track patients' movements to evaluate the performed rehabilitation exercises, they require specific settings necessary for a correct and simple use at the patient's home. If we consider the recent pandemic situation and the lockdown condition, which made difficult the access to these products, post stroke patients may be not able to perform home rehabilitation. Objectives: the goal of this work is the design of a specific method to develop a tele-rehabilitation platform for post-stroke patients using consumer technologies without involving ad-hoc devices. Method: Open-source tools have been investigated for speeding up the development starting with the medical knowledge. Results: a group of four healthcare technologies engineering students with no specific skills about computer science has developed a platform in four months using the design method. Conclusion: the presented method allowed the development of a clinical knowledge-based web platform for post-stroke patients totally based on consumer technology.