In clinical practice, upper extremity motor impairments are commonly assessed with disease-specific, subjectively scored and low-resolution rating scales that often do not consider the variations in tasks and environment that are essential aspects of daily life. Augmented reality (AR) systems with contactless tracking of the hand and upper body offer opportunities for objective quantification of motor (dys)function in a challenging, engaging and patient-tailored environment. In this study, we explore the potential of AR for evaluating 1) speed and goal-directedness of movements within the individually determined interaction space, 2) adaptation of hand opening to objects of different sizes, and 3) obstacle avoidance in healthy individuals (N = 10) and two highly prevalent neurological conditions (N = 10 patients with Parkinson’s Disease and N = 10 stroke patients). We successfully implemented three AR games to evaluate these key aspects of motor function. As expected, PD patients moved slower than controls and needed more time for task completion. No differences were observed between stroke patients and controls, perhaps because motor impairments in this patient group were relatively mild. Importantly, usability of our AR system was good and considerably improved compared to our previous study due to more natural and patient-tailored interaction. Although our findings testify to the potential of AR for assessing motor impairments in patients with neurological conditions and provide starting points for further improvement, there are still many steps to be taken towards application in clinical practice.@en

Advances in technology offer new opportunities for a better understanding of how different disorders affect motor function. In this paper, we explore the potential of an augmented reality (AR) game implemented using free hand and body tracking to develop a uniform, cost-effective and objective methods for evaluation of upper extremity motor dysfunction in different patient groups. We conducted a study with 20 patients (10 Parkinson’s Disease patients and 10 stroke patients) who performed hand/arm movement tasks in four different conditions in AR and one condition in real world. Despite usability issues mainly due to non-robust hand tracking, the patients were moderately engaged while playing the AR game. Our findings show that moving virtual objects was less targeted, took more time and was associated with larger trunk displacement and a lower variability of elbow angle and upper arm angle than moving real objects. No significant correlations were observed between characteristics of movements in AR and movements in the real world. Still, our findings suggest that the AR game may be suitable for assessing the hand and arm function of mildly affected patients if usability can be further improved. @en

Advances in technology offer new opportunities for a better understanding of how different disorders affect motor function. Our aim is to explore the potential of augmented reality (AR) using free hand and body tracking to develop engaging games for a uniform, cost-effective and objective evaluation of upper extremity motor dysfunction in different patient groups. Based on the insights from a study with 20 patients (10 Parkinson’s Disease patients and 10 stroke patients) who performed hand/arm movement tasks in AR, we created a set of different augmented reality games for upper extremity motor dysfunction assessment. @en