SUPRO - MAKING REHAB FUN
Aug - Nov 2019
Group Project, Human-Centered Design, Game Design
Designed by: Teng Yan Wen, Nysha Tan, Lin Tsai Wei
In Collaboration with: AWWA, NUS KEIO-CUTE Center, Xentiq
Supervised by: Dr Yen Ching-Chiuan, Felix Austin Lee
PROJECT BACKGROUND
PROBLEM WITH PHYSICAL REHABILITATION
At AWWA, some patients come in due to injuries but most are seniors who require routine exercises after recovering from strokes or to prevent muscle atrophy. However, rehabilitation can often be a painful process and many of the patients find the current equipment unengaging or even dreadful. This has led to high dropout rates as elderly patients lose motivation. Many fail to see a tangible improvement from their efforts and find the entire rehabilitation process pointless.
In addition, therapists are often short-staffed and have trouble keeping track of patients' progress. Some equipment also require assistance or monitoring, further straining the available manpower.
USER RESEARCH
Prior to the development of SUPRO, we conducted an interview with a therapist to understand the common issues patients and therapists face. We also observed patients during their sessions and noticed an obvious lack of motivation across the centre, especially when unmonitored. There were even cases of patients "cheating" at their tasks or simply giving up.
Trying out some of the equipment for forearm rehabilitation, we felt that they were extremely repetitive and boring. Time seemed to drag on forever during a 10-minute routine.
Pictured below is one of the main equipment for forearm rehabilitation. It requires someone to support the patient on one end. There are also adjustable levels of tension.
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CONCEPT DEVELOPMENT + USER TESTING
We went through many rounds of exploration and refinement of our physical equipment and game concept based on user testing.
The games were created using Scratch for Arduino (S4A) and connected to the equipment through a potentiometer.
The main takeaways from user tests were:
1. There should be no lag between the movement of the hand and the animation. A lag induces frustration and causes the patients to think that the machine is broken, or that they are doing something wrongly.
2. The seniors often have bad eyesight. Therefore, the game should not rely on colours as its main objective. Colours can be used as enhancements, such as to give variety, or be combined with other visual elements to convey meanings.
3. Measurements of progress boosts motivation a lot. A particular user was so excited by the number of flowers she had collected that she wanted to continue collecting them until she hit 100, despite the end of her stipulated 10 minutes exercise.
SUPRO
Combining our learnings from interviews, observations and testing, we finally arrived at SUPRO!
SUPRO is a rehabilitative device that strengthens forearm muscles and improves the range of motion of stroke patients and athletes with forearm injuries. The name is a portmanteau of the supination and pronation orientations of an arm during such rehabilitation exercises.
The physical device is linked to a digital game, such as Fancy Flora (pictured below), so that users are able to visualise their progress and feel a greater sense of control over their hand motions. Goals in the game provide the motivation needed to get through their exercise routines. Advancement in the game aids both the therapist and the patient in tracking their recovery, with minimal monitoring.
The set also comes with three material pads that can be inserted into the equipment to create different levels of tension according to the patients' needs.
