EAGER: An Exploratory Pilot Project to Build Human-Centric Physical Activity Monitoring Tools for Enhancing Rehabilitation Therapy Engagement and Assessment

有许多类型的残疾由关节炎引起，其中系统的身体活动和物理治疗是必不可少的，以防止进一步恶化。这里的挑战是，剧烈的疼痛期是这种活动的障碍。疼痛和体力活动之间的关系非常微妙；它通常涉及所有关节（如手、手腕、脚、膝盖），是导致生活质量下降和残疾的主要原因。类风湿性关节炎（RA）是一种慢性全身性炎症性疾病，物理治疗的主要目标是保持运动功能范围和增强心血管健康。类风湿性关节炎患者经常锻炼不仅可以改善肌肉力量和整体身体和健康功能，还可以降低死亡率。但有研究表明，RA患者长期参与运动的比例很低，在无人监督的情况下，不超过50%。这给国家卫生保健和国民生产力造成了巨大的损失。PI认为计算机技术（工具和接口）可以帮助RA患者保持动力并保持运动。在这个探索性项目中，她的团队将开发一些用于动作捕捉和数据集成的组件，这些组件最终将集成到一个名为RPLAY的系统中，该系统将使RA患者能够在家中进行物理治疗，同时系统精确地监测他们的关节运动、运动表现和其他生理指标。具体目标包括：开发以人为中心的自适应远程监测的初步工具，包括面部、手部、手臂和身体运动以及运动范围；开发互动游戏原型以鼓励患者康复，并开发用户界面原型，患者和治疗师可以通过虚拟化身进行交流，以促进身体活动；开发用于验证物理治疗监测和评估结果的工具，并将其集成到可视化和报告系统中。更广泛的影响：该项目解决了人类关节疼痛和缺乏身体活动的问题，这些问题对数百万人的日常生活产生了不利影响。它将为在相似条件下整合不同的人类数据奠定基础，这将推进和扩展工程创新与计算分析之间的关系。该项目将为计算机科学博士生提供以创新方式模拟人体运动的培训经验。该项目还将为物理治疗和计算机科学专业的学生开设一门关于改善保健服务和康复做法的跨学科课程。

There are many types of disabilities caused by arthritis, where systematic physical activity and physical therapy are essential to preventing further deterioration. The challenge here is that periods of severe pain are an obstacle to such activities. The relationship between pain and physical activity is very tricky; it typically involves all joints (e.g., hands, wrists, feet, knees) and is a major cause of reduced quality of life and disability. This is the case with Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA), a chronic systemic inflammatory disease, where preserving functional range of motion and enhancing cardiovascular health are primary goals of physical therapy. Persons with RA who exercise regularly show not only improvements in muscle strength and overall physical and health function, but also reduced mortality. But it has been shown that long-term engagement in exercise among patients with RA is poor and does not exceed 50% when patients are not supervised. This results in a huge cost to national health care and to national productivity. The PI argues that computer technology (tools and interfaces) can help the RA patient remain motivated and maintain movement. In this exploratory project her team will develop some of the components for motion capture and data integration that will eventually be integrated into a system called RPLAY which will enable patients with RA to perform physical therapy at home while the system accurately monitors their joint motions, motor performance and other physiological indicators. Specific objectives include: development of preliminary tools for human-centric adaptive remote monitoring, including facial, hand, arm, and body motions, and range of motion; development of prototype interactive games to encourage patient rehabilitation, and of a prototype user interface through which the patient and therapist can communicate via avatars to promote physical activity; and development of tools for validating the physical therapy monitoring and assessment results and their integration into a visualization and report system. Broader Impacts: This project addresses issues of human joint pain and physical inactivity, which adversely affect the everyday lives of millions of people. It will lay the foundations for integrating disparate human data of persons in similar conditions, which will advance and extend the relationship between engineering innovation and computational analysis. The project will provide a training experience for computer science PhD students in modeling human motion in innovative ways. The project will also lead to an interdisciplinary course for physical therapy and computer science students on improving health delivery and rehabilitation practices.