A Review of and Taxonomy for Computer Supported Neuro-Motor Rehabilitation Systems

Stroke and other acquired brain injuries leave a staggering number of people worldwide with impaired motor abilities. Repetitive motion exercises can, thanks to brain plasticity, allow a degree of recovery, help adaptation and ultimately improve quality of life for survivors. The motivation for survivors to complete these exercises typically wanes over time as boredom sets in. To ease the effect of boredom for patients, research efforts have tied the rehabilitation exercises to computer games. Review of recent works found through Google scholar and Carleton’s summon service which indexes most of Carleton’s aggregate collection, using the key terms: stroke, acquired brain injury and video/computer games revealed a number of research efforts aimed primarily at proving the viability of these systems. There were two main results; (1) A classification scheme for computer neurological motor rehabilitation systems (CNMRS) was created based on the researched systems. (2) The systems reviewed all reported some degree of positive results—small sample sizes, large range of neuro-impairments, varied motion recording technology and different game designs make it problematic to formally quantify results, beyond a general net positive trend. The taxonomy presented here can be used to classify further works, to form the basis for meta-studies or larger long term longitudinal study and by neurological rehabilitation practitioners to help select and deploy systems to match client specific needs.