Literature Review
What existing research says about pediatric rehabilitation
Hemiplegia in children — often resulting from perinatal stroke or cerebral palsy — affects 1 in 1,000 live births. Conventional therapy relies on repetitive physical exercises under clinical supervision, which is resource-intensive and difficult to sustain long-term.
Recent literature highlights the effectiveness of technology-assisted rehabilitation. Studies on constraint-induced movement therapy (CIMT) and robot-assisted therapy show statistically significant improvements in motor function. VR-based approaches show comparable outcomes with higher patient engagement and adherence rates, particularly among younger populations.
IoT-enabled wearables allow continuous remote monitoring, closing the feedback loop between patients and clinicians. However, most existing solutions target adult populations and are cost-prohibitive for widespread adoption in developing regions.
Research Gap
Existing rehabilitation technologies fail to address the paediatric context holistically. Key gaps identified include:
- Lack of age-appropriate, gamified therapy solutions for children under 14.
- Absence of affordable IoT wearables designed for small limb profiles.
- No unified platform connecting the child, parent, and clinician in real time.
- Limited adaptive difficulty systems that personalise therapy intensity.
- Insufficient solutions suitable for low-resource healthcare settings.
Research Problem
Research Objectives
Develop IoT-based wearable devices to support upper-limb rehabilitation for hemiplegic children aged 6–14.
Design engaging VR games that motivate children to perform repetitive therapeutic exercises.
Provide a real-time progress monitoring dashboard for parents and hospital staff.
Integrate machine learning to personalise therapy difficulty based on patient performance.
Reduce reliance on in-clinic sessions by enabling effective home-based rehabilitation.
Methodology
Requirement Analysis
Clinician interviews, literature synthesis, and patient family surveys to define functional and non-functional requirements.
Iterative Design & Build
Agile sprints covering hardware prototyping, game development, backend APIs, and mobile/web dashboards.
Evaluation & Validation
Usability testing with target users, clinical expert review, and quantitative performance metrics analysis.