WristDroid - A serious game to support and motivate patients throughout their wrist rehabilitation

Wrist injuries are a common and frequent health issue requiring rehabilitation. Occupational and physical therapists create individual exercises for their patients, which include both ambulatory/stationary and home exercises. Practice and literature show, however, that autonomously performed exercises are likely not carried out accurately and may endanger progress of rehabilitation. We propose the design of WristDroid - an Android-based serious game to leverage execution of home exercises and deliver enjoyable therapeutic progress in a motivational environment that patients can thrive on. Two occupational and eight physical therapists were interviewed to identify requirements for such an application and aided in refinement of various prototypes. Preliminary evaluation results by physical therapists suggest that WristDroid supports wrist rehabilitation and offers a motivating and empowering way to recover from wrist injuries.