Optimising engagement for stroke rehabilitation using serious games

Effective stroke rehabilitation must be early, intensive and repetitive, which can lead to problems with patient motivation and engagement. The design of video games, often associated with good user engagement, may offer insights into how more effective systems for stroke rehabilitation can be developed. In this paper we identify game design principles for upper limb stroke rehabilitation and present several games developed using these principles. The games use low-cost video-capture technology which may make them suitable for deployment at home. Results from evaluating the games with both healthy subjects and people with stroke in their home are encouraging.