physical therapy
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Insert Coin semifinalist: Hodu is a 'zero failure' physical therapy hardware / software combo
Hodu borrows its name from the Korean word for "walnut," a reference to the culture's use of the nut as an exercise tool in traditional medicine. The barbell-shaped device is a "zero failure" physical therapy tool, aimed at rewarding patients for even the slightest level of feedback. There are on-board pressure sensors and accelerometers for detecting activity and a series of colored LEDs that light up based on feedback levels. The team behind Hodu is also working on proprietary software to help log patients' squeezing and rotational progress. After the break is a video that should give you a bit of a better idea of precisely what Hodu is capable of. Check out the full list of Insert Coin: New Challengers semifinalists here -- and don't forget to pick a winner!
SnowWorld breathes new life into severely burned Afghanistan veteran
We know video games can offer deeply immersive experiences that affect our real-world emotions and draw intense reactions from our real-life bodies and minds. We know this, and finally the professional medical community is beginning to recognize our insight, with truly encouraging results, as described by GQ's recent feature, Burning Man.Sam Brown's body was burned horrifically during his tour in Afghanistan, after his Humvee ran over an IED, GQ writes. He spent many months after the accident drugged out of consciousness on rave-grade hallucinogens and enduring the highest levels of physiological pain during therapy that no amount of morpihne could tame. And then a cognitive psychologist told him to play SnowWorld, a virtual-reality game full of snowball-chucking snowmen and penguins, while his skin was stretched, a procedure that normally garnered a score over 10 on Brown's pain scale.Playing SnowWorld, he gave the pain a six.Hunter Hoffman, the psychologist behind SnowWorld, is working on further research into the art of pain distraction through video games, but already results such as Brown's show great potential. Hoffman is using $7.5 million in grants from the National Institutes of Health to expand his research, including the incorporation of Second Life-style elements into video game therapy. Read the entire, captivating story at GQ. [Image via MGShelton]
15 Minutes of Fame: Full-body WoW with motion-sensing software
From Hollywood celebrities to the guy next door, millions of people have made World of Warcraft a part of their lives. How do you play WoW? We're giving each approach its own 15 Minutes of Fame. The boss is enraging at 7% health and you're locked on target, hunched over your keyboard in a white-knuckled frenzy to squeeze every last drop of DPS from your avatar. Finally, the beast succumbs to your assault, and you sit back, exquisitely aware of the tension crumpling your neck and shoulders and radiating into your fingertips. As you pull in a deep, shuddering breath of relief, you wonder if perhaps it might be more natural to simply stand in front of your screen and show the computer, using gestures similar to those of your character, what to do. Now, you can. Dr. Skip Rizzo, associate director at the University of Southern California's Institute for Creative Technologies, is head of a research project that's applying the same kind of technology used in the Xbox Kinect to the World of Warcraft. The aim of the project, however, is not so much to turn games like WoW into virtual tarantellas of movement and gesture but to make games more accessible to disabled players and to open new avenues for rehabilitation, therapy and even education. The project's Flexible Action and Articulated Skeleton Toolkit (FAAST) middleware integrates full-body control with games and virtual reality applications, using tools like PrimeSensor and the Kinect on the OpenNI framework.
Students use Wii Balance Board for kids' physical therapy system (video)
Nintendo's kid-tested, researcher-approved Wii Balance Board has struck at the heart of the medical supply industry yet again -- this time, the Bluetooth-connected scale is being used to help physically challenged children at Shriners Hospital in Houston. Seniors at Rice University hand-machined a set of force-sensitive parallel bars and programmed a monster-shooting game called Equilibrium to get kids excited about improving their walking gait, where they can play and score points with each proper step they take. The game automatically ratchets up the difficulty as patients improve, and handrails will play a part too, with a custom three-axis sensor box able to detect how much patients rely on the parallel bars (and dock points accordingly) in an effort to improve their posture. Yep, that sounds just a wee bit more useful than the Balance Board lie detector or the Wii Fit Roomba. Video after the break.
Motion Doctor turns your iPad into a physical therapist
I've got a lot of friends who are doctors, physical therapists and trigger point therapists. One thing they all tell me is that patients usually follow and perform prescribed exercises flawlessly while seeing the PT, but as time goes on and the patients are expected to do their exercises at home, they usually aren't as effective because the PT isn't there guiding their every move. Motion Doctor for iPad (US$14.99) hopes to remedy this. The app contains over 60 professionally shot videos under the guidance of Dr. Desirea Caucci, who is rated one of the top three physical therapists in the nation. The videos are divided into categories including body part, activity, sport or profession. Select your category, say "sport," then choose what sport you do most, such as bicycling. You'll then be presented with a list of exercises and stretches all cyclists should be doing in order to prevent injury. Tap on one of the exercises to see a video demonstrating the exercise, complete with voiced step-by-step instructions. Even if you aren't an athlete, you can still benefit from this app. It's got sections filled with exercises and stretches for those of us who do lighter activities, such as gardening, sewing, computer work and even watching TV. But the thing I love most about this app is that it gives you a rationale for each exercise or stretch that it tells you you should do. I've been to a few physical therapists, and the good ones always take the time to explain why an exercise is going to benefit you, not just that it will "help fix your knee." This app tells you the why and the how. I highly recommend Motion Doctor for physical therapists and anyone who wishes to maintain injury-free activities no matter what their sport or occupation.
Video: Taizo the robot teaches grandpa how to stretch, so you don't have to
You know, maybe we were wrong-headed to keep harping on this 'evil robot' meme. Sure, there are some no-goodniks in the robot community (as opposed to the robotics community, which we assure you is full of hard-working, well-meaning people) but look at all the good robots have done for us: they build our cars, serve us hot drinks, teach our young children, and now they help our oldsters with the physical therapy. Taizo, pictured here, is a delightful chap with a bulbous visage and a fun, plushy space suit who stands just over 24-inches tall and weighs 15.5 pounds. Operating for about two hours on a single charge, the robot is designed to lead low-impact group exercise (mostly while sitting down) and features voice recognition and a library of thirty different exercises. With 26 joints in its body, it's a flexible fellow, for sure. We just hope that no one weaponizes the thing. Video after the break. [Via Engadget German]
Wii-based physical therapy not just for Americans any more
If you were someone not living in the confines of North America, you might have thought we were all going crazy over here, throwing the old physical therapy ways out the window and openly embracing new, Wii-based solutions that might not be totally tested. But hey, we're not complaining, if the people say it helps, then we're all for it.Well, England is finally getting with the times, as the Wii is being used in physiotherapy for some in the south-east portion of the country. Specifically, at Queen Victoria NHS Foundation Trust in East Grinstead, where Maureen Adams, the head of therapy, comments that when "recovering from an operation, such as a skin graft, patients may need recover normal use of their hands and arms. Using the Wii is a way of significantly improving movement, while not seeing the activity as therapy, which helps motivate them. Wii can also be done at home, so patients are able to continue their own personal therapies."Basically, they're using it for all the same reasons as other folk have been using it. And hey, any way to help these folks regain movement and rebuild their physical selves, we're down with it.
Wii + rehab = Wiihab, the cycle is now complete
It's not the first we've heard of the Wii being used for rehabilitation context, but it would appear "Wiihab" is becoming increasingly frequent. According to the AP, hospitals in states like Missouri, Illinois, and North Carolina, and even Walter Reed Army Medical Center are all incorporating the Wii into physical therapy routines. Just in time, too, it would be really weird if Wiiitis or a nasty Wiinjury landed you in the hospital in the first place, your doctor used a Wii to hone his steady hand, and you didn't actually get to use a Wii to get your ass well enough to be discharged. Ah, what a world.
