Cardiac Rehabilitation

by Mar Gonzalez, Ryan Orendorff, Mark Guppy, Markus Falgenhauer, Mindy Chang, David Solarz, Maulik Majmudar, Kathy Duckett

Created and presented at the MIT Media Lab's Health and Wellness Innovation 2012

Patients recovering from heart attacks often don't follow up with cardiac rehabilitation at home because they are unmotivated or afraid to over-exert themselves. Studies have shown that cardiac rehabilitation can greatly improve recovery and reduce the risk of repeat heart attacks. This project is a prototype of a video game with the Microsoft Kinect that engages patients in exercises prescribed by their doctor. A bluetooth pulse oximeter continuously tracks the heart rate and blood oxygenation to ensure that the patient remains within safe limits.

The male avatar on the right is the "trainer," performing pre-recorded exercises, and the Kinect is tracking and displaying the user's movements on the woman avatar. The displays on the left show a graph of the heart rate (HR) and text displays of the HR and oxygen saturation from a bluetooth pulse oximeter (here in demo mode). When the HR is in the target zone, a sign pops up with audio saying "Great job," and if it exceeds the maximum, it says "Let's slow down." The bottom left shows the exercises and progress towards completion.