Personalization of Gait Rehabilitation Games on a Pressure Sensitive Interactive LED Floor

This paper describes the design and evaluation of movement-based games for gait rehabilitation with personalization based on gait characteristics. We used an eight by one meter pressure sensitive interactive LED floor. With the interactive games we attempted to steer different dimensions of people's gait, increase motivation, provide an enjoying experience, and create an additional platform for gait rehabilitation by physical therapists. We performed several days of exploratory user tests with the created set of games, in total 56 patients and 30 therapists were involved. The set of games was positively received by therapists, who stated they could train a variety of targeted domains with it. Furthermore, many rehabilitants indicated they liked it more than normal training exercises. The possibilities for personalization and the variety of games allowed users with a wide variety of skills and limitations to train their gait, although not all rehabilitants could be offered an appropriate level of challenge. Nonetheless, we do believe one reason for the positive responses is that the games can be adapted to the rehabilitants' gait characteristics with several settings in the games, and that a second reason seems to be that therapists can choose between games to target different aspects of rehabilitation suitable for the type of rehabilitant.