Computer aided rehabilitation for patients with rheumatoid arthritis

Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) is a chronic disease that leads to inflammation of joints and the surrounding tissues and is a major cause of reduced quality of life and disability. RA can also cause major organ damage and is an independent risk factor for cardiovascular disease. Physical Therapy (PT) and Physical Activity (PA) have been shown to mitigate the effects of the disease, however, lack of motivation and low adherence of the patients reduce the benefits of PT and PA. In this paper, we present a cyberphysical system intended to preserve the functional Range-Of-Motion (ROM) and cardiovascular health in persons with RA, by promoting their physical activity levels and enhancing their physical therapy routines. The system uses game-based activities to increase user motivation and vision-based motion tracking to ensure patient compliance with the prescribed physical therapy routines and activity levels.