Track: K-12 STEM Poster Competition

Abstract

Finger and joint injuries are common among children. This may come from a strain, fracture or just overuse of the different joints. These types of injuries may occur in the three joints of the hand: the metacarpophalangeal joint (MCP), interphalangeal joint (PIP), or the distal interphalangeal joint (DIP). However, a child with these types of injuries may find the normal rehabilitation methods boring and uninteresting, which may affect the speed of the rehabilitation process. In this project, the Unity game development engine (Unity) was used to design a game for children with these types of joint injuries to speed up the process of rehabilitation. Additionally, the Oculus Rift (Oculus VR) was used as the VR headset and the Leap Motion Controller (Leap Motion) was used to measure the hand movements and angles of the patient throughout the experiment. This type of game may speed up the recovery process of a child with a DIP, PIP, or MCP injury. The child may find the game more interesting than the normal set of exercises and therefore may be keener on winning the game which will speed up the rehabilitation process