BrainShift was conceived to design game-based rehabilitation programs for touch-screen and mobile devices to help stroke patients regain motor control in their hands. Traditionally, stroke rehabilitation has been dominated by therapies involving repetitions of a specific movement that the patient is trying to relearn. Patients are sent home from hospital with a program of exercises to do each day. The activities are generally monotonous and require repetition of movements with incremental progress, which can often lead to frustration. Compliance often becomes an issue with these traditional programs. In the past few years, researchers have been looking for ways to help solve this issue, and something that is becoming more popular is to “gameify” the rehabilitation process.
Others have been contributing to this trend, and the common thread tends to be a focus on physical performance of skills in order to improve function. While this is very important, we approached the problem from a different perspective. Our game can be likened to “brain-training”; rather than physical exercises. It aims to train a skill that has a universal application in the physical actions that are trained in traditional rehabilitation, and as such can help not only in activities of daily living, but, when used as a supplement to traditional therapies, can also make physical rehabilitation more manageable. The game is played on any touch screen device, making mobility one of its key features.