REACH: Virtual Reality Game for Rehabilitating Upper Body Bradykinesia of Parkinson's Patients

As the second most common neurodegenerative disorder, Parkinson’s affects around 1 million people in the United States, and 10 million worldwide (Parkinson’s Foundation). Thus there are 10 million people who are suffering from a disorder with no cure. Because of this, treatment of Parkinson’s disease and management of symptoms is crucial as the disease advances. Some non-physical symptoms include anxiety, sleep troubles, fatigue, and loss of smell, while some physical symptoms include a resting tremor, bradykinesia, dyskinesia, instability, and rigidity (Parkinson’s Foundation, 2023). These symptoms lead to gait instability, gait freezing, higher fall risks, an overall lack of flexibility, and a struggle with dual-task performance (Johannson et al., 2023). The goal of this thesis project is to create a game design document and potential study outline of a Virtual Reality (VR) game that targets upper body bradykinesia and allows Parkinson’s patients to improve their arm mobility and decrease rigidity and reaction time. This game, REACH, is designed to be used in conjunction with weekly physical therapy, and progress within the game should be monitored by the therapist. Because it is important for rehabilitation to be individualized for each patient, in this game, the patient’s physical therapist will select a “level”, which corresponds to the patient’s range of motion (ROM) and reaction time. However, the exercise game will keep track of performance and log the degrees of motion, corresponding reaction time, and time on task. This performance profile will allow the therapist to monitor the patient's progress and make well-informed decisions about the patient’s progress and goals.