KINECT-BASED SKELETON-MATCHING FEEDBACK FOR MOTOR REHABILITATION: TRANSIENT PERFORMANCE EFFECT OF SHOULDER TRAINING

For motor learning tasks, different feedback methods to the user may impact the efficiency of motor training. Microsoft Kinect has shown great potential as an assistive device for home-based exercise training. This study introduces a Kinect-based skeleton-matching feedback system and compares its training outcomes with those of traditional mirror feedback in order to explore its applicability for use in home-based motor training. Forty healthy adults were randomly divided into an experimental group and a control group, and were instructed to perform a set of continuous shoulder motions using Kinect-based skeleton-matching feedback and traditional mirror feedback respectively. Fisher’s z-transformed Pearson’s correlation coefficient (rz) and root-mean-square error (RMSE) were used to evaluate angular differences in shoulder movements between the subject’s actual motion and a reference motion for each group. Compared to the results under mirror feedback, r values with skeleton-matching feedback were significantly improved for symmetric abduction (SA), asymmetric abduction (ASA), and symmetric flexion/extension (SFE) (P<0.05), and RMSE values were significantly decreased for symmetric flexion/extension (SFE) (P<0.001). Therefore, the Kinect-based skeleton-matching feedback system boasts greater training efficiency for shoulder motor learning and has great potential as an assistive device for home-based rehabilitation exercise training.