wE-MOVE

Children who are (partly) paralyzed e.g. due to a brain injury, and obese children need to exercise to improve their health. However, it’s often difficult to keep them motivated to do the drills that are prescribed by their rehabilitation or fitness coach. And, if they practice at home, it’s difficult to know if they perform the exercises correctly. 

One thing children don’t have to be motivated for, is playing video games. So why not use their preferred pastime as a way to get – and keep – them moving? How to do that is what the wE-MOVE consortium has been investigating for the past 2 years.

In the framework of the wE-MOVE project, researchers and experts from several companies developed an exergaming platform combining video games and exercise. Their solution can track movements highly accurately, uses virtual reality to immerse the children (and their brains) in the exergame, and provides a user-friendly dashboard for the therapist or coach to monitor the children’s progress. The focus of the project was on two use cases: a game for children with paralysis on one side of the body (=hemiplegic) who have to learn to use their affected upper limb again, and a game for children with obesity who need more movement overall.