Reflexion Health advancing physical therapy with Kinect for Windows
Reflexion Health, founded with technology developed at the West Health Institute, realized years ago that assessing physical therapy outcomes is difficult for a variety of reasons, and took on the challenge of designing a solution to help increase the success rates of rehabilitation from physical injury.
In 2011, the Reflexion team approached the Orthopedic Surgery Department of the Naval Medical Center San Diego to help test their new Rehabilitation Measurement Tool (RMT). This software solution was developed to make physical therapy more engaging, efficient, and successful. By using the Kinect for Windows sensor and software development kit (SDK), the RMT allows clinicians to measure patient progress. Patients often do much of their therapy alone and because they can lack immediate feedback from therapists, it can be difficult for them to be certain that they are performing the exercises in a manner that will provide them with optimal benefits. The RMT can indicate if exercises were performed properly, how frequently they were performed, and give patients real-time feedback.
Reflexion Health's Kinect for Windows-based tool helps measure how patients respond to physical therapy.
“Kinect for Windows helps motivate patients to do physical therapy—and the data set we gather when they use the RMT is becoming valuable to demonstrate what form of therapy is most effective, what types of patients react better to what type of therapy, and how to best deliver that therapy. Those questions have vexed people for a long time,” says Dr. Ravi Komatireddy, co-founder at Reflexion Health.
The proprietary RMT software engages patients with avatars and educational information, and a Kinect for Windows sensor tracks a patient’s range of motion and other clinical data. This valuable information helps therapists customize and deliver therapy plans to patients.
“RMT is a breakthrough that can change how physical therapy is delivered,” Spencer Hutchins, co-founder and CEO of Reflexion Health says. “Kinect for Windows helps us build a repository of information so we can answer rigorous questions about patient care in a quantitative way.” Ultimately, Reflexion Health has demonstrated how software could be prescribed—similarly to pharmaceuticals and medical devices—and how it could possibly lower the cost of healthcare.
More information about RMT and the clinical trials conducted by the Naval Medical Center can be found in the newly released case study.
Kinect for Windows team
Key links