College of Health Sciences<\/a>, recently undertook a study aimed at trying to rectify this. D\u2019Andrea conducted a feasibility study using an augmented reality game to keep people engaged and motivated during training or rehabilitation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\u201cThe quality and quantity of prosthetic training have a significant influence on prosthetic acceptance,\u201d said D\u2019Andrea. \u201cHowever, there\u2019s no consensus on the most effective delivery for this training.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
D\u2019Andrea recruited 32 healthy, able-bodied participants for the study, ranging in age from 18-65. Wearing a bypass body-powered prosthetic device, participants performed functional task assessments in D\u2019Andrea\u2019s MotionVR Biomechanics Lab.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe focused on the upper extremities because individuals with upper extremity amputations will often reject their prosthetic,\u201d said D\u2019Andrea. \u201cMany times, it feels easier for them to use their uninjured arm because they don\u2019t get enough training on using the prosthetic.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Half the participants in the study were randomly assigned to an augmented reality intervention group and the other half to a control group.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Participants in the augmented reality group used the ARm-Strong training game, which was developed at 溏心vlog免费B站 by kinesiology and biomedical engineering students. The game challenges participants to stack holographic cups while wearing a Microsoft HoloLens2 headset. They were tested during three visits, with 4-6 days between each visit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Participants in the control group received no training between pre- and post-measurements of hand function and were instructed not to use a prosthesis between visits to the lab. During their two visits, which were 8-12 days apart, they were instructed to complete a seven-task functional assessment using the prosthesis only. One task was to turn over five index cards on a table, while being timed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOn average, individuals in the augmented reality group were significantly more efficient at using the bypass prosthesis to complete functional tasks compared to the control group,\u201d said D\u2019Andrea. \u201cIndividuals who engaged in the augmented reality training had positive feelings of engagement, engrossment, and immersion towards the application.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
D\u2019Andrea is hopeful that augmented reality will become widely adopted in healthcare as a training or rehabilitation tool.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe amount of time needed to progress through prosthetic training protocol varies from person to person depending on their needs and function. That\u2019s why the augmented reality game is appealing\u2014it can be tailored to the needs and abilities of the user,\u201d said D\u2019Andrea. \u201cIt\u2019s also a great solution because you can play the game anywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She also noted that there are very few safety issues because users can see their \u2018real\u2019 environment through the lenses, as opposed to virtual reality headsets, where users can only see the game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While widespread implementation of the technology has been cost-prohibitive to this point, D\u2019Andrea expressed optimism that the technology may soon be available more widely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI think the price point of the augmented reality headsets are finally starting to come down, which might speed up the adoption of the technology for rehabilitation,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A peer-reviewed article about the study, which the professor co-authored with former 溏心vlog免费B站 students Lauren Deus and Leah Wohlbach, was published in the February issue of the scientific journal PLOS One<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 April 2, 2026 \u2013 Artificial limbs look and function more like real limbs than ever before\u2014but that\u2019s only helpful if they are used as intended. One of the main reasons amputees give for not using their body-powered prosthesis is a lack of motivation or knowledge of how to properly use them. Part […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":107940,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[4,1905],"class_list":["post-107939","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archives","tag-college-of-health-sciences","tag-research"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107939","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=107939"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107939\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":107944,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/107939\/revisions\/107944"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/107940"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=107939"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=107939"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=107939"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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