There is new hope that technology could be the way forward for arthritis and osteoporosis sufferers, as researchers at Arthritis & Rheumatism UT Arlington are creating a brand new set of software systems that help to support these patients.
These individualised software systems will help to support the physical therapy of those receiving treatment for the conditions.
Arthritis is a painful condition causing inflammation of the joints, but sufferers can benefit greatly from physical therapy, as this helps to keep the joints mobile and to extend the function of the limbs, enabling them to carry out day-to-day tasks with greater ease and to manage and significantly reduce the pain levels that they experience from the condition.
The chair of the Computer Science and Engineering Department is leading a mixed team of professionals who will use the computer software to remotely monitor people with rheumatoid arthritis to make sure that people are both receiving therapy and receiving the right type of therapy.
Funded by a grant from the National Science Foundation, the computer system collects information about each patient’s cognitive and physiological function. This is done in the form of an interactive game-like programme which users should engage with and enjoy taking part in. The structured activity feeds information into the computer about arm and body motions, and gauges information about a patient’s ability to move various different parts of the body, analyses gestures and facial expressions and even looks at brain activity to help adapt the interactive games to the individual’s therapy need.
In this way, doctors’ usual prescribed courses of physical therapy are turned into interesting and interactive game experiences, which the user will enjoy and which the computer can monitor, in order to assess how each patient is responding to therapy and to progressively change the type of activity that is being carried out to ensure that therapy is always stretching the patient’s capabilities as much as possible without exceeding them.
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