Neuro Muscular
VR Training
In-home customized physiotherapy
I designed a VR experience that caters to the physiotherapy needs of patients thereby providing a personal, guided and incentivized progression.
My Role
Experience strategy, interaction Design, Visual Design,
Tools
Papers
Illustrator
Tinkercad
GoPro VR player
Duration
6 Weeks
Device
HTC Vive
BACKGROUND
795,000 +
Every year
People in the United States have strokes. About 610,000 of these are first or new strokes.
From the Cdc
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41% of patients looking for a drug-free pain relief option, found physical therapy to be the most effective alternative treatment.
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Stroke-related costs in the United States came to nearly $53 billion between 2017 and 2018.2 This total includes the cost of health care services, medicines to treat stroke, and missed days of work.
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Stroke is a leading cause of serious long-term disability. Stroke reduces mobility in more than half of stroke survivors age 65 and older.
THE PROBLEM
Physiotherapies are expensive and tiring for many stroke-affected patients. Due to demotivation and boredom, there is a 70 % non-compliance from the patient's side in performing the prescribed exercise or visiting the doctor regularly.
It's a challenge, especially considering we're dealing about stroke survivors.
SOLUTION
Mirror Therapy In VR
Traditional Mirror Therapy
Challenges
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To be self-dependent.
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High Expense on Physiotherapy treatments.
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Hospital environments are frustrating.
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Boredom & Lack of motivation.
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Repeated Doctor Appointments.
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Physiotherapy is painful.
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Use a normal arm and a mirror to trick the brain into believing that the affected arm can perform normal movements
Mirror Therapy (In VR)
Opportunities
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Self-dependent.
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Less expense on physiotherapy.
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Exercise at home.
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Brain bending & motivating.
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Customized
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Engaging
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Follow / Mirror movements in normal hand
CONSIDERATIONS
UX+VR
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Maintenance of high frame-rate
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Physiological comfort
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Psychological comfort
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Environmental Comfort
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Ergonomics
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Interactions
Business
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Identifying proper business points that can help both the users and the service providers at the same time and bring more business.
Device Constraints
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HTC Vive and understanding the device’s capability and bringing the best out of it.
DESIGN
How NEURO TRAINING works
Neuromuscular VR training focuses on helping the users to finish their sessions by adding fun to them. At each level, we have a game that introduced a different types of considering the user's physical capability and the workouts planned by the physiotherapist.
PART ONE
Intro to Basket & Ball Game
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The user will pick up the ball as mentioned in the instructions.
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Based on the user's capability and condition the physiotherapist suggests the type of workout they need to do and we gamify it for them.
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A tracking system using the sensors and remote calibration to identify if the patient /user performed the workout with accuracy.
Standard View
Split View
PART TWO
Instruction at every step
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Animated guide for users.
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The background can be changed based on various factors. The user doesn't have to stick with one. Nature also plays a good role in healing.
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Timer for each task to measure the user's accuracy and speed in performing them.
Standard View
Split View
PART THREE
Avatar and audio instructions
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Sometimes an empty VR environment with no living things can get boring for our personas.
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A physiotherapist avatar instructs and guides the users just like a real physiotherapist.
PART FOUR
Timer & Progress Report
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A report is displayed at the end of the session to let the user know how they performed which includes the time taken to finish, speed & accuracy in percentage.
BEHIND THE SCENES
Start of Story
Uncovering & Solving the Painpoints
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Patients pay $50 - $ 350 per session.
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70 % Non-compliance.
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Exercises not interesting enough
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How to do therapy without a Physiotherapist?
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Boredom and lack of motivation make following the routine challenging
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Fun Social Activity Anyone?
Solution:-
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We decided VR could be the best option since providing solutions on any other easily available platform will not track if the user has done the exercises correctly or not. The best device that can track user movement is HTC Vive.
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MR and AR were not solving the purpose of motivation and immersive experience due to the interference of real world
Gamification and mirror therapy
Game planning
Part 1 - Headset Ergonomics
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We recommended tying the straps fairly tight.
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Ask the user if the image is blurry, 90% of the time this can be fixed by wiggling the headset up and down a little.
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Remind users that they can move around there.
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some new users will lean out dangerously far to grab things rather than walk or collide with the wall.
Part 2 - Controllers
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We only enabled the menu button and the trackpad for the game.
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Overridden haptic feedback.
Game Plan
Bench
Low- Fi Draft Models
Avatar first draft - This is a free asset from Unity with minor changes not the final Avatar
Environment
This was done to test the lights, park dimensions, table height, ball placement, etc. This is a test model to rectify any UX error before the final product is built and also help the client to visualize or experience the same.
Asset placement testing draft
This is done to finalize the placement after testing it in VR to go ahead with creating the final assets
How did we do?
Testing
User Testing
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The solution was tested among the user group under the supervision of a physiotherapist where the solution was approved by professional medical specialists for us to continue with the testing on actual patients.
After Testing
Result
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We achieved over 80% success, and 7/10 of users were able to complete the assignment without difficulty or confusion.
As expected, a few users experienced issues with their eyesight, which were not rectified due to the device's present capabilities.
Some elders initially expressed concern (after seeing the headset, sensors, and wires) and shyness about wearing the headgear, but they were able to complete most of the tasks effectively.
This idea was awarded first place in the " Disruptive Business Award category."
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