Helping Kids with SMA Win with a Physiotherapy Game

Physiotherapy is hard. It is even harder for children who get bored and tire quickly from the repetitive motions that doctors prescribe for them. Raft Digital Therapeutics (Raft) created an interactive video game to help children with a rare degenerative neuromuscular disease – Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) – to maintain their physical abilities, improve outcomes, and promote a higher quality of life. Their game has found success with children, parents, and clinicians. Healthcare IT Today had the opportunity to sit down with Dr. Geoff Frost, CEO of Raft and practicing physiatrist, to find out about their game, their recent successes, and their plans for the next year. How Bazaar Through his practice, Dr. Frost found himself constantly asking and lecturing his young patients to do the necessary exercises to maintain muscle and range of motion. He knew that this was not sustainable and frankly not enjoyable for anyone – his patients, their parents, and himself. Dr. Frost began to think of ways to meet his patients halfway. “The solution we came up with is a game called Cloud Bazaar,” said Dr. Frost. “With this game, instead of using a controller, players use their body to make their character take certain actions.” Equipped with motion capture technology, the game tracks and responds to movements through the built-in camera on players’ computers as they navigate increasingly difficult levels. It engages young players by placing them on a “mission” in which t...
Source: EMR and HIPAA - Category: Information Technology Authors: Tags: Clinical Communication and Patient Experience Health IT Company Healthcare IT Hospital - Health System Telemedicine and Remote Monitoring Cloud Bazaar Collision 2023 Collision Conference Digital Therapeutics Dr. Geoff Frost gamificia Source Type: blogs