The motion sensors in the Xbox One Kinect is able to assist in cerebral palsy rehabilitation at the Bloorview Research Institute in Canada. Researcher Elaine Biddiss explains that children with cerebral palsy tend to have difficulties extending their wrists, elbows and shoulders, and the use of Kinect would allow the children to perform these exercises.
Kinect is a unique method of therapy for children with cerebral palsy in an otherwise repetitive practice. Biddiss expresses, “Rehabilitation is driven by repetitive practice, and that can be boring for kids to do the same thing over and over again. But when you put it in a game environment with rewards and points, that helps to motivate kids. We recognize that games are a fantastic way to get kids to engage in these therapies, and there are a lot of elements to video games that are fundamental to neuroplasticity.”
Researchers at the Bloorview Research Institute are working to develop specific games for Kinect to help children with cerebral palsy to gain their motor functions and to further their rehabilitation.
Click here for more information on Xbox One Kinect and cerebral palsy rehabilitation.
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