Desenvolvimento de equipamento acoplado a jogos sérios para reabilitação da escoliose

Abstract

This dissertation presents the development and evaluation of technological resources to support Physiotherapeutic Scoliosis-Specific Exercises, including two serious games, body tracking systems, and a physical support device. The proposal aims to make exercise practice more interactive, traceable, and reproducible, without replacing physiotherapeutic assessment. Initially, a literature review was carried out on Adolescent Idiopathic Scoliosis, serious games, body tracking tools, and applications related to spine rehabilitation. Next, the games Knight Run and Paint Maker were developed in Unity, using C# programming, including profile management, exercise selection, performance recording, series configuration, and data export. Game control was implemented through two different strategies, one based on Nuitrack, using the Intel RealSense D435 depth camera, and the other based on MediaPipe, using the Logitech C270 HD 720p webcam (30 FPS). An adaptation for Android devices was also developed, restricted to the use of MediaPipe. The users’ perception of the applications was evaluated with 10 participants, using adapted forms based on the Game Experience Questionnaire and the Intrinsic Motivation Inventory, resulting in overall scores of 73.12% for game experience and 83.33% for perceived motivation and usefulness. In parallel, a modular device was designed to provide support, upper limb leveling, scapular support, and fixation points for elastic resistance during the exercises. Finally, an experimental stage was carried out comparing Nuitrack and MediaPipe with the Qualisys system, adopted as the reference, during movements corresponding to the game controllers. The analysis considered repetitions, total time, regularity, angles, and depth, when applicable. The results indicated 0.00% error in repetition counting, temporal errors ranging from 0.21% to 7.60%, regularity errors predominantly below 8.33%, depth errors ranging from 0.27% to 1.04% between Nuitrack and Qualisys, and angular errors below 7.88% in most conditions, with greater deviations in frontal elevation trials using MediaPipe. It is concluded that the developed resources showed potential as complementary, accessible, and integrated tools to support scoliosis treatment, although future studies with patients, larger samples, and clinical validation are still required.