Virtual rehabilitation
This area of work focuses on the rehabilitation of movement function in clinical populations such as cerebral palsy. Examples of ongoing research are the training and testing of core control using virtual reality games and the development and application of Virtual Mirror Box methods.
Training and testing core control using virtual reality games:
Our multi-disciplinary research team has developed custom made computer games focusing on movement co-ordination of the trunk and pelvis, known as the core of the body.
In a pilot study, a group of children with cerebral palsy were recruited through Alder Hey Children’s Hospital, and over six weeks they played variants of the Goblin Post Office game on the first CAREN virtual reality system in the UK.
In order to understand how their movement skills changed in response to the games training, their walking style was tested using clinical gait analysis, and a detailed analysis was made of movement performance recorded while playing the games.
The findings of our research have been presented at national and international scientific conferences, and disseminated to physiotherapists in research seminars and postgraduate training programmes. We continue to analyse and publish the results of our research in peer reviewed scientific journals. The novelty and potentially high impact of our research has been recognised by the WellChild Researcher Award 2010.
The next stage of the research took place in schools across Merseyside. In order to make the method available to a larger number of children, a portable prototype of the game has been developed. It was used within a PhD study in schools to train and test children with cerebral palsy, focusing on the core of the body, as well as the ankle, knee, and hip joints. The portable Goblin Post Office is installed at The Movement Centre and BASIC where we are working towards integration of the game in the daily physiotherapy of patients with neuromuscular problems, for example cerebral palsy.
We aim to improve hand function in scleroderma with our custom developed virtual rehabilitation game, FlappyBird-CAREN, which builds on the addictive power of Flappy Bird, the most downloaded smartphone game in 2013. Initially as a master’s student project and then as an LJMU PhD Scholarship programme we collaborated with Aintree Hospital NHS Foundation Trust.
We can now stream 3D hand movement data from the Leap Motion sensor into the D-Flow software (Motek) and this opens up the possibility of further smart games aiming at hand function rehabilitation.
Primary contact
- Prof Gabor Barton
Research assistant and then PhD student
- Richard Foster, 2009-2012. Funded by Alder Hey Children’s NHS Trust and LJMU’s Institute for Health Research.
- Elena Eusterwiemann, 2016-2019. Funded by LJMU PhD Scholarship scheme.
Virtual Mirror Box
A physical mirror positioned in the mid-sagittal plane can reduce phantom limb pain in amputees and improve movement function in stroke and upper limb control in children with cerebral palsy. A mirror illusion of unimpaired limb movement during gait might enhance the effect, but a physical mirror is only capable of showing parallel movement of limbs in real time while sitting, standing or lying. In this project, funded by LJMU’s Institute of Health Research, we aimed to overcome the limitations of physical mirrors by developing and evaluating a Virtual Mirror Box which delays the mirrored image of limbs during gait.
The Walton Centre NHS Foundation Trust has shown a lot of interest in the Virtual Mirror Box as one of many novel approaches relevant in neurology and neurosurgery. Collaboration efforts are underway to translate innovative research to clinical practice.
Primary contact
Prof. Gabor Barton