Introduction
The application challenges subjects to move and stand in different postures without making them conscious of the fact that they are in training. The whole scenario gives a positive game-experience. The scenario contains various body posture shapes that are presented to the subjects. From the shape, the subjects should make an interpretation of which posture they should take in, in order to fit in the shape.
Goal
Subjects see themselves as simple avatar on screen. From this avatar, the subjects gets information about his current pose and whether this pose matches the shape that moves towards him.
During the session, the subject has to complete a set of 5 or 10 of these shapes, depending on the number set by the operator. Every following session, the level of the exercise increases. Difference in level of difficulty is mainly made my means of offering a more difficult shape. In addition to that, a few parameters (set by the operator) vary the difficulty of the exercise.
The platform moves with the scenario, gradually offering more and more complexity throughout the different levels.
The most important purpose with this application is to test whether the subject is able to complete the postures that are presented and to receive a positive experience. This application is not meant to correct the subject in any way, but solely used to provoke motion in a fun way. This is why only positive feedback is given to the subject. No other parameters are measured during this application
Population
This application is meant for subjects that suffer from some degree of balance disorder, posture disorder and/or fear of pain during movement.
Patients that are not able to fully stand on their own, or for medical reasons may not 100% load their lower extremity, are excluded, unless using a body weight reduction sub system.
Game play
Introduction
Before the exercise starts, there is a short introduction which tells the subject what they are about to expect. The introduction tells the subject what he must do in order to complete the task.
Shapes
The selection of presented shapes depend on the level and rank of the subject. The higher the rank, the more difficult the posture.
This application is also suitable for subjects that have a disability in their upper or lower extremity. The operator is able to exclude lower or upper extremity postures. In case the upper extremity is excluded, the top shape shows a standard pose. In case the lower extremity is excluded, the bottom part shows a standard pose.
Subject posture feedback
The subjects match a simple avatar on the screen. The presented shape holds six target points, which need to be touched by the subject. Depending on the selected extremity, these target points are situated in the upper or lower part of the shape or a combination of that. The only way to touch all six points is by standing exactly in the posture that is presented. Each target point colours green when the posture matches the points. This way, the subject gets additional feedback about whether his posture matches the shape.
For the avatar, we use as less markers as possible, but the subject should still indentify himself with the avatar.
Performance
The only thing that counts in this application is whether the subject is able to make the posture that is asked or not. It is not important to measure some percentage of correctness or which segments are correct and which are not. This means that the application will only measure whether the subject remains the correct pose while the shape is passing by. All mistakes made for one posture count as one penalty.
The time that the subject should remain the posture is set by the operator.
The time between presented shapes differs per level. The higher the level, the quicker the next shape is presented.
Only positive feedback is given to the subject. This means that penalties are not shown to the subject, but are only kept in CAREN.
Practice or Real
There are two program types. ‘Practice’ and ‘Real’.
The Practice program is used only when subjects are introduced to the application for the first time. It is solely used for subjects to practice and to understand the goal of the application.
The scenery in the practice program is very plane (little stimuli) and holds a set of five simple shapes (not variable) that are presented to the subjects. All operator parameters, with exception of the platform parameters are fixed in this program.
In the Real program all variables (number of shapes, shape types, difficulty, scene appearance) depend on the rank selected by the operator.
Promotion
Subjects are promoted to a higher rank (level) when they completed 80% or more of the postures correctly. This means at least 4 out of 5, or 8 out of 10 postures. In this case the application ends with an ‘image’ that shows to which rank the subjects are promoted. Positive sounds and particle effects accompany this ‘promotion’.
In case subjects were not able to accomplish this, they get an encouraging ‘Try again’ image.
Unique opportunities
- Unconscious postural training
- Body awareness
- Distraction leading to unconscious motions
- Motivational
- Scalable accuracy
- Additional platform motions in high levels for increased challenge
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