Gamifying Hand Therapy: Development of a Mixed Reality Rhythm Game to Reduce Pain and Improve Motivation
27 juillet 2026 mis à jour par: Yushi Wang, Western University
The hand is one of the most functional and frequently injured parts of the body. Without proper recovery, patients can face significant impairments performing everyday tasks. Hand therapy is the cornerstone of hand rehabilitation, but the painful, repetitive, and monotonous nature of prescribed exercises leads to poor patient motivation and adherence, ultimately compromising long-term recovery outcomes.
New technologies such as virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) have emerged as interactive and engaging modalities for rehabilitation, and can even reduce pain by distracting patients during exercises. However, mixed reality (MR), which is a new modality combining VR and AR has not been well studied for its ability to reduce pain in hand rehabilitation. Therefore, we developed HoloRehab, a mixed reality video game for hand rehabilitation, built for the Microsoft HoloLens 2 headset. This device allow users to see and interact with realistic 3D holograms projected into their physical environment.
This pilot study will evaluate whether using HoloRehab can reduce discomfort and improve the exercise experience compared to traditional self-guided hand therapy exercises. After development of a prototyped game, we will run a pilot study involving 20 healthy participants assigned to either the mixed reality intervention or a traditional exercise group. Outcomes will include measures of discomfort, fatigue, and user experience.
Findings from this study will inform further development of the HoloRehab system.
Aperçu de l'étude
Statut
Complété
Les conditions
Intervention / Traitement
Type d'étude
Interventionnel
Inscription (Réel)
20
Phase
- N'est pas applicable
Contacts et emplacements
Cette section fournit les coordonnées de ceux qui mènent l'étude et des informations sur le lieu où cette étude est menée.
Lieux d'étude
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Ontario
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London, Ontario, Canada, N6A 3K7
- University of Western Ontario
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-
Critères de participation
Les chercheurs recherchent des personnes qui correspondent à une certaine description, appelée critères d'éligibilité. Certains exemples de ces critères sont l'état de santé général d'une personne ou des traitements antérieurs.
Critère d'éligibilité
Âges éligibles pour étudier
- Adulte
- Adulte plus âgé
Accepte les volontaires sains
Oui
La description
Inclusion Criteria:
- Adult (≥18 years old) medical students at Western University
- English-speaking
- No existing hand pathology
- Able and willing to provide informed consent
Exclusion Criteria:
- Musculoskeletal conditions
- Neurological conditions
- Chronic pain conditions
- Previous hand surgeries
- Function-altering hand injuries
- History of motion sickness
- History of seizures or epilepsy
- Cold sensitivity or cold intolerance
- Current use of analgesic medications (e.g., NSAIDs, acetaminophen, opioids)
Plan d'étude
Cette section fournit des détails sur le plan d'étude, y compris la façon dont l'étude est conçue et ce que l'étude mesure.
Comment l'étude est-elle conçue ?
Détails de conception
- Objectif principal: Traitement
- Répartition: Randomisé
- Modèle interventionnel: Affectation parallèle
- Masquage: Aucun (étiquette ouverte)
Armes et Interventions
Groupe de participants / Bras |
Intervention / Traitement |
|---|---|
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Comparateur actif: Traditional Rehabilitation
Participants in the traditional rehabilitation group perform self-guided finger range of motion exercises according to a provided guide, without any gaming component.
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Participants submerge their dominant hand in a cold-water bath while performing hand exercises with their non-dominant hand.
Autres noms:
Participants perform hand exercises against finger extension resistance bands attached to the non-dominant hand.
Autres noms:
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Expérimental: HoloRehab Gaming Rehablitation
Participants in the HoloRehab Gaming Rehabilitation group perform the same finger range of motion exercises compared to traditional rehabilitation group, but through the medium of an extended reality rhythm video game with Microsoft HoloLens 3.
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Participants submerge their dominant hand in a cold-water bath while performing hand exercises with their non-dominant hand.
Autres noms:
Participants perform hand exercises against finger extension resistance bands attached to the non-dominant hand.
Autres noms:
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Que mesure l'étude ?
Principaux critères de jugement
Mesure des résultats |
Description de la mesure |
Délai |
|---|---|---|
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Time to cold water withdrawal
Délai: Assessed continuously during the cold pressor test, from hand immersion until voluntary withdrawal or a maximum of 15 minutes.
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The duration (seconds) that participants keep their hand submerged in a cold water bath before voluntarily withdrawing due to discomfort.
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Assessed continuously during the cold pressor test, from hand immersion until voluntary withdrawal or a maximum of 15 minutes.
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Time to fatigue failure
Délai: Assessed continuously during resisted hand exercise, from exercise initiation until voluntary cessation due to fatigue or a maximum of 15 minutes.
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The duration (seconds) that participants continue performing hand exercises against resistance bands before voluntarily stopping due to fatigue.
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Assessed continuously during resisted hand exercise, from exercise initiation until voluntary cessation due to fatigue or a maximum of 15 minutes.
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Discomfort Rating After Cold Water Withdraw
Délai: Assessed immediately following completion of the cold pressor test (within 1 minute of hand withdrawal).
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Participant-reported level of hand discomfort immediately following the cold pressor test, measured on a 1-10 numerical rating scale.
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Assessed immediately following completion of the cold pressor test (within 1 minute of hand withdrawal).
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Discomfort Rating After Resisted Exercise
Délai: Assessed immediately following completion of the resisted exercise task (within 1 minute of exercise cessation).
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Participant-reported level of hand discomfort immediately following resisted hand exercises, measured on a 1-10 numerical rating scale.
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Assessed immediately following completion of the resisted exercise task (within 1 minute of exercise cessation).
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Mesures de résultats secondaires
Mesure des résultats |
Description de la mesure |
Délai |
|---|---|---|
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User experience
Délai: Assessed once immediately following completion of all study procedures during the single study visit (approximately 45 minutes after intervention initiation).
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Participant-reported overall satisfaction, usability, comfort, enjoyment, and perceived effectiveness of the assigned exercise modality, assessed using a post-intervention questionnaire consisting of Likert-scale items.
For participants in the intervention arm, this includes experience with the HoloRehab game and the HoloLens 2 headset.
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Assessed once immediately following completion of all study procedures during the single study visit (approximately 45 minutes after intervention initiation).
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Collaborateurs et enquêteurs
C'est ici que vous trouverez les personnes et les organisations impliquées dans cette étude.
Parrainer
Publications et liens utiles
La personne responsable de la saisie des informations sur l'étude fournit volontairement ces publications. Il peut s'agir de tout ce qui concerne l'étude.
Publications générales
- Wolf S, Hardy JD. STUDIES ON PAIN. OBSERVATIONS ON PAIN DUE TO LOCAL COOLING AND ON FACTORS INVOLVED IN THE "COLD PRESSOR" EFFECT. J Clin Invest. 1941 Sep;20(5):521-33. doi: 10.1172/JCI101245. No abstract available.
- Mott J, Bucolo S, Cuttle L, Mill J, Hilder M, Miller K, Kimble RM. The efficacy of an augmented virtual reality system to alleviate pain in children undergoing burns dressing changes: a randomised controlled trial. Burns. 2008 Sep;34(6):803-8. doi: 10.1016/j.burns.2007.10.010. Epub 2008 Mar 5.
- Ali RR, Selim AO, Abdel Ghafar MA, Abdelraouf OR, Ali OI. Virtual reality as a pain distractor during physical rehabilitation in pediatric burns. Burns. 2022 Mar;48(2):303-308. doi: 10.1016/j.burns.2021.04.031. Epub 2021 May 5.
- Neiman NR, Falkson SR, Rodriguez ST, Wang EY, Hemphill SF, Khoury ME, Kist MN, Jackson CD, Caruso TJ. Quantifying virtual reality pain modulation in healthy volunteers: A randomized, crossover study. J Clin Anesth. 2022 Sep;80:110876. doi: 10.1016/j.jclinane.2022.110876. Epub 2022 May 4.
- Moreau S, Therond A, Cerda IH, Studer K, Pan A, Tharpe J, Crowther JE, Abd-Elsayed A, Gilligan C, Tolba R, Ashina S, Schatman ME, Kaye AD, Yong RJ, Robinson CL. Virtual Reality in Acute and Chronic Pain Medicine: An Updated Review. Curr Pain Headache Rep. 2024 Sep;28(9):893-928. doi: 10.1007/s11916-024-01246-2. Epub 2024 Apr 8.
- Birnie KA, Noel M, Chambers CT, von Baeyer CL, Fernandez CV. The cold pressor task: is it an ethically acceptable pain research method in children? J Pediatr Psychol. 2011 Nov-Dec;36(10):1071-81. doi: 10.1093/jpepsy/jsq092. Epub 2010 Oct 5.
- Pereira MF, Prahm C, Kolbenschlag J, Oliveira E, Rodrigues NF. Application of AR and VR in hand rehabilitation: A systematic review. J Biomed Inform. 2020 Nov;111:103584. doi: 10.1016/j.jbi.2020.103584. Epub 2020 Oct 2.
- Zhang C, Yu S. The Technology to Enhance Patient Motivation in Virtual Reality Rehabilitation: A Review. Games Health J. 2024 Aug;13(4):215-233. doi: 10.1089/g4h.2023.0069.
- Khamees KM, Deldar K, Yazarlu O, Tuama AM, Ganji R, Mazlom SR, Froutan R. Effect of augmented reality-based rehabilitation of hand burns on hand function in children: A randomized controlled trial. J Hand Ther. 2025 Apr-Jun;38(2):235-245. doi: 10.1016/j.jht.2023.10.009. Epub 2024 Feb 12.
Dates d'enregistrement des études
Ces dates suivent la progression des dossiers d'étude et des soumissions de résultats sommaires à ClinicalTrials.gov. Les dossiers d'étude et les résultats rapportés sont examinés par la Bibliothèque nationale de médecine (NLM) pour s'assurer qu'ils répondent à des normes de contrôle de qualité spécifiques avant d'être publiés sur le site Web public.
Dates principales de l'étude
Début de l'étude (Réel)
8 juin 2026
Achèvement primaire (Réel)
10 juillet 2026
Achèvement de l'étude (Réel)
24 juillet 2026
Dates d'inscription aux études
Première soumission
9 juin 2026
Première soumission répondant aux critères de contrôle qualité
18 juin 2026
Première publication (Réel)
25 juin 2026
Mises à jour des dossiers d'étude
Dernière mise à jour publiée (Réel)
29 juillet 2026
Dernière mise à jour soumise répondant aux critères de contrôle qualité
27 juillet 2026
Dernière vérification
1 juillet 2026
Plus d'information
Termes liés à cette étude
Termes MeSH pertinents supplémentaires
- Activité motrice
- Mouvement
- Phénomènes physiologiques musculo-squelettiques
- Phénomènes physiologiques musculo-squelettiques et neuronaux
- Thérapeutique
- Modalités de physiothérapie
- Soins aux patients
- Thérapie d'exercice
- Réhabilitation
- Suivi
- Continuité des soins aux patients
- Conditionnement physique, humain
- Exercice
- Formation en résistance
Autres numéros d'identification d'étude
- 128579
Plan pour les données individuelles des participants (IPD)
Prévoyez-vous de partager les données individuelles des participants (DPI) ?
NON
Description du régime IPD
No, individual participant data will not be shared, and is retained and used only by the study team.
Use of data is described in detail during the informed consent process, and will be stored securely in accordance with institutional research ethics requirements.
Due to our small sample size, there is a risk that participants can be re-identified even after de-identification if IPD is shared.
Informations sur les médicaments et les dispositifs, documents d'étude
Étudie un produit pharmaceutique réglementé par la FDA américaine
Non
Étudie un produit d'appareil réglementé par la FDA américaine
Non
Ces informations ont été extraites directement du site Web clinicaltrials.gov sans aucune modification. Si vous avez des demandes de modification, de suppression ou de mise à jour des détails de votre étude, veuillez contacter register@clinicaltrials.gov. Dès qu'un changement est mis en œuvre sur clinicaltrials.gov, il sera également mis à jour automatiquement sur notre site Web .