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The problem
By the time some patients get to the Cerebral
Palsy Clinic at Children's Hospital Boston, they're already uncomfortable, anxious and in no mood for the frustrating and sometimes painful stretching and dexterity exercises involved in their therapy.
Innovative solution
Developer Paolo Bonato, PhD, director of the Motion Analysis Laboratory at Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital (SRH), led a multidisciplinary team from SRH and the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, collaborating with Donna
L. Nimec, MD, and Brian Snyder, MD, PhD, both from Children's Department
of Orthopedics, to develop a system that would be fun for children to use, but also deliver legitimate therapeutic value. The result is like a giant iPad, programmed with custom-developed games and activities that encourage the principal elements of cerebral palsy therapy. (Patients stretch by reaching for the keys of a virtual piano, and they coordinate both of their hands by capturing animated butterflies.) Games can be designed around specific goals, such as range-of-motion or increased visual skills.
Implications
When patients at Children's Cerebral Palsy Clinic tested the tabletop, their response was overwhelmingly positive. The project is still in development, but the team envisions a system in which hospitals maintain progress records for each patient who uses the system. Patients and their families would be able to track their progress and plan therapy goals, giving kids something positive to look forward to at therapy time.
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