In the field stories

Rehabilitation for children right at home

A new way to treat hemiplegia

Tele-UPCAT is a platform dedicated to intensive home rehabilitation for the upper limbs in children suffering from hemiplegia. This serious movement disorder affects one half of the body and is caused by congenital brain lesions. The ‘Osservare per Imitare’ treatment is scientifically based on stimulating the use by the brain of the system of Mirror Neurons and makes children observe significant actions, which they must then immediately repeat (Action Observation Therapy).

The platform uses dedicated software that automatically alternates monitoring and execution. It is designed and built to be intuitive and fun. “Ubi the Alien” engages with children, inviting and challenging them with fun tasks. Sensor bracelets, or actigraphs on both upper limbs, send data to therapists for key indicators and measurements, and are analysed by the algorithms. These bracelets are the same used by athletes to track kilometres and calories and are work for 24 hours.

Watch the video below for more on the tools used:

Thanks to generous funding by the Italian Ministry of Health, and close cooperation between the Stella Maris Foundation, the Biorobotic Institute of Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna and the Italian NREN GARR Consortium, the Tele-UPCAT and CareToy projects are introducing a ground-breaking rehabilitative approach that allows children to get rehabilitation and treatment in the comfort of their own homes.

GARR’s high capacity network, provides great support in data collection for therapists to customise the treatment plans as much as possible. Read the full story in the latest post on In The Field blog.

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