Virtual Promenade: A new serious game for the rehabilitation of older adults with Post-fall Syndrome

Abstract

We introduce a novel rehabilitation tool to treat Post-Fall Syndrome (PFS) in older adults: a serious game, called Virtual Promenade, combined with a haptic chair imitating the hips movements of human walk. We report on the user-centered design of our prototype, following “living lab” principles, which was well received by our test participants. This system aims at addressing the psycho-motor consequences of older adults' falls; they are often neglected in current post-fall care practices. We first checked for feasibility and tolerability of such interventions. We then applied a living lab participatory design approach, involving health care professionals and older adults, to build the Virtual Promenade prototype. We found that patients with PFS tolerated the system well and that there were no major obstacles to feasibility. We also report that the aesthetics of the virtual environment is an important motivational factor for older adults and discuss our results in searching for the most suitable game controller for this type of patients and game. Finally, we observed that the chairs' movements improved the immersion in the game.