Back to work with gamification – Rehabilitation glove to recover full finger function

Status:

completed 09/2022

Aims:

The purpose of this research was to investigate the impact of gamification-training on functional outcomes among rehabilitation patients after hand surgery (HS). For this purpose, we compared two groups, of which the intervention group trained with a rehabilitation glove (Cynteract) and the control group completes standard hand mobilization trained with a finger expander.

Activities/Methods:

We randomly assigned 57 inpatients of the BG Klinikum in Duisburg to a control and a gamified group. The sample underwent a four-week stationary rehabilitation during which they performed the training intervention. All patients completed the Disabilities of Arm, Shoulder and Hand questionnaire (DASH) to assess upper extremity functionality, the Short Form (SF) 36 to determine health-related quality of life, and the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) to quantify pain perception. In addition, the frequency and duration of the training were recorded.

Results:

The study results reflect that the four-week utilization of an interactive, rehab glove and finger expander improves hand function. The two groups showed a decrease in the DASH score. This decrease reflects increased hand function. The mean DASH improved in the control group from 55±20 points before training to 32±14 points after, and from 56±20 to 44±11 in the rehab glove group. The difference in the control group is 23 points above the minimum clinically relevant difference (MCID). In addition, the difference in training frequency between the control and rehab gloves is significant (p=0.028).

Conclusion: It could be shown that both the rehabilitation glove and the finger expander were able to improve hand function among rehab-patients. Since the motivation and fun factor are very important for the patient’s rehab, these items could be explored in depth in the future to optimize the patients outcome.

Last Update: