3D Analysis of Upper Limbs Motion during Rehabilitation Exercises Using the Kinect (TM) Sensor: Development, Laboratory Validation and Clinical Application

Optoelectronic devices are the gold standard for 3D evaluation in clinics, but due to the complexity of this kind of hardware and the lack of access for patients, affordable, transportable, and easy-to-use systems must be developed to be largely used in daily clinics. The KinectTM sensor has various advantages compared to optoelectronic devices, such as its price and transportability. However, it also has some limitations: (in)accuracy of the skeleton detection and tracking as well as the limited amount of available points, which makes 3D evaluation impossible. To overcome these limitations, a novel method has been developed to perform 3D evaluation of the upper limbs. This system is coupled to rehabilitation exercises, allowing functional evaluation while performing physical rehabilitation. To validate this new approach, a two-step method was used. The first step was a laboratory validation where the results obtained with the KinectTM were compared with the results obtained with an optoelectronic device; 40 healthy young adults participated in this first part. The second step was to determine the clinical relevance of this kind of measurement. Results of the healthy subjects were compared with a group of 22 elderly adults and a group of 10 chronic stroke patients to determine if different patterns could be observed. The new methodology and the different steps of the validations are presented in this paper.