A group of researchers from LabHuman-I3BH at the Universitat Politècnica de València, together with doctors from the Neuro-Rehabilitation Service at the NISA Valencia al Mar and Sevilla Aljarafe Hospitals and the Virtual Reality technology company Bienetex have developed BioTrak Home, a new tele-rehabilitation system for patients suffering from brain damage that allows them to be treated at home.
This new system was presented on Tuesday, October 16th at 10:30AM, on the premises of the Nisa Valencia al Mar hospital. The system is based on “Cloud” technology. BioTrak Home makes it possible to continuously monitor and evaluate patients’ progress. The system includes a portable computer that the patient can connect to the their television, a depth camera and a motion capture platform on which they can carry out the exercises set by their therapists each day.
When the patient connects from home, BioTrak Home executes its personalized plan with different exercises and rests. Professionals can access the data to monitor the rehabilitation process, correct any errors in the performance of the exercises and periodically report on the patient’s development and improvement to family members.
The BioTrak Home module makes it possible to implement continuous remote evaluations of the progress of the patients and their different pathologies. The researcher from LabHuman-I3BH at the Politècnica de València, Roberto Llorens, noted that “the training will improve the patient’s condition throughout the entire life of the patient.” So patients who were receiving rehabilitation treatment in a hospital but have now been discharged can continue to do the same exercises at home. “This way they will always be cared for, assessed and undergo continuous doctor-led rehabilitation,” the researcher stated.
Technology
The technology of BioTrak Home used by patients at home is low cost: it includes a portable computer the patient can plug into their television, a “Kinect-type” depth camera and a motion capture platform – like the “Wii Balance Board” – with which they can do the daily exercises their doctors prescribe.
When the patient connects to the program, the system executes the exercise plan entered by the therapist. Once finished, the results are sent to the cloud (servers on the internet) and therapists can access the data to monitor the progress of their rehabilitation, correct any errors in the way the exercises are performed and periodically report on the development and progress of the patient to their relatives.
The BioTrak System provides therapists with information about the results obtained from the exercises carried out, showing graphics of the development and progress of the patient from an objective point of view. So, as Joan Ferri, director of the rehabilitation service at NISA Valencia del Mar says, they can provide care for “more patients at a lower cost” and, especially, continuously supervise the development of patients by staying in constant contact with them.
The BioTrak Home software is free to all patients at the Valencia del Mar and Sevilla-Alijarafe hospitals, representing “enormous savings” at a time when “the economic situation is endangering the normal functioning of Brain Damage services,” claims Ferri. With this new BioTrak module, transfers can be avoided and the patient can be continuously supervised by a therapist in the comfort of their home.
The BioTrak Home system is an extension of BioTrak, a comprehensive motor and cognitive skills rehabilitation system based on virtual reality technology. Its benefits include the ability to monitor every aspect of the rehabilitation process, its adaptability to different disorders in each patient, improved motivation and adherence to treatment plans and optimization of time dedicated to rehabilitation.
