A Kinect-Based System for Physical Rehabilitation: Utilizing Tai Chi Exercises to Improve Movement Disorders in Patients with Balance Ability

Abstract

In this paper, we present a Kinect-based rehabilitation system to assist patients with movement disorders by performing the "seated Tai Chi" exercises at home. With this physical rehabilitation system, we can evaluate whether patients achieve rehabilitation results correctly or not. By using skeletal tracking of Microsoft Kinect sensor, each gesture of the patient while performing Tai Chi is recognized and validated. The experiment was carried out according to an ABAB sequence in which A represents the baseline and B represents intervention phases. Experimental results show that the participants significantly increased their motivation for physical rehabilitation, thus improving exercise performance during the intervention phases.