‘DIGITS’ app - smartphone augmented reality for hand telerehabilitation

ABSTRACT

Hand telerehabilitation currently has limitations for accurate and remote assessment of range of motion (ROM) in small finger joints. ‘DIGITS’ application utilises the front smartphone camera to measure finger ROM in a reliable and rapid assessment protocol. Our initial beta-phase testing examined the consistency of our software measurements to in-person goniometry. 6 to 9 degrees of difference existed between the smartphone application recorded data versus the in-person measurements. This range is within acceptable 7 to 9 degree tolerance for interrater goniometry measurements. The effect of environmental factors such as hand distance, lightings and hand orientation was evaluated. The intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) was 0.98–0.98 for finger extension and 0.78–0.81 for finger flexion recorded across different environmental conditions. Overall, ‘DIGITS’ provides an augmented reality tool to generate reliable finger ROM tracking for hand telerehabilitation. ‘DIGITS’ has the potential to transform hand therapy and improve our knowledge of hand pathology recovery.

KEYWORDS:

• Telerehabilitation
• computer vision
• range of motion

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

Authors declare no funding at the current stage of this project.

Notes on contributors

Hongdao Dong

Hongdao Dong is a third-year medical student at the Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry at Western University in London, Ontario in Canada. His previous degree is Bachelors of Medical Sciences with Honors Specialization in Biochemistry and Pathology for Human Diseases. His research interest includes virtual care and medical imaging technologies for patient-centred outcomes and prognostics.

Edward Ho

Edward Ho is a third-year medical student at the Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry at Western University in London, Ontario in Canada. Previously, he obtained his Bachelors of Medical Sciences at Western University and his Masters of Engineering from the University of Toronto. His research interests include deep learning in medical imaging and augmented reality for medical applications.

Herbert Shin

Herbert Shin is a third-year undergraduate software engineering student at the University of Western Ontario. Herbert has previously completed a research internship at the University of Western Ontario after being awarded with the Undergraduate Summer Research Award. His research interests include web development while welcoming all opportunities to learn more about his field.

Tania Banerjee

Tania Banerjee is a MESc student of Electrical and Computer Engineering Department in Western University. She is a research student under the supervision of Professor Roy Eagleson. She is specialising in Software Engineering and Artificial Intelligence.

Geoffrey Masschelein

Dr. Geoffrey Masschelein is a Plastic and Reconstructive surgery resident at Western University with an interest in hand surgery. He completed his medical school, as well as a double major in biology and medical sciences at Western University. His research interests include improving patient outcomes following upper extremity trauma/surgery.

Jacob Davidson

Jacob Davidson completed both his Bachelor of Arts and Master of Science degree in Kinesiology and Physical Education from Wilfrid Laurier University. Jacob started with the Division of Paediatric Surgery in 2017. Currently, he is the Research Coordinator for the Division of Paediatric Surgery and has helped to facilitate a number of clinical, educational, and quality improvement projects in many different surgical sub-specialities.

Sandrine de Ribaupierre

Sandrine de Ribaupierre is a paediatric neurosurgeon and an Associate Professor in the Department of Clinical Neurological Sciences at the University of Western Ontario. She is also an Associate Member of the UWO Brain and Mind Institute, and a Principal Investigator at CSTAR, the Canadian Surgical Technologies and Advanced Robotics Centre. Her main research areas include Fetal and Children Neuroimaging (fMRI and DTI), Development and Evaluation of Augmented and Virtual Reality tools for Medical Education and Surgical Simulation, and clinical research on hydrocephalus and epilepsy. Her research is supported by an NSERC Discovery Grant, CIHR, and by the Epic MegaGrants Program.

Roy Eagleson

Roy Eagleson is a Professor of Engineering, in the Biomedical Systems, Software Engineering, and Computer Engineering groups. He is also a Core Member of the UWO Brain and Mind Institute, and a Principal Investigator at CSTAR, the Canadian Surgical Technologies and Advanced Robotics Centre. Research areas include 3D Biomedical Visualization, Surgical Simulator Design and Evaluation, Augmented and Virtual Reality Interfaces, and Neurosurgical workspace modelling. His research is supported by an NSERC Discovery Grant, and by the Epic MegaGrants Program.

Caitlin Symonette

Dr. Caitlin Symonette is a Plastic and Reconstructive surgeon at London Health Sciences Center who has a clinic focus on hand surgery. She completed fellowship training in Hand & Microsurgery at the University of British Columbia in 2019. Prior to medical school she completed an MSc in Kinesiology and during residency completed a second MSc in Surgery. Her research focus is improving patient outcomes following upper extremity trauma/surgery.