ReFlex VR: a Virtual Reality game for upper limb rehabilitation of stroke survivors

Stroke is a medical emergency that occurs when not enough blood is able to reach brain cells, leading to many complications and, if not promptly treated, even death. It is the main cause of adult disability, with stroke survivors often experiencing paresis in one upper limb, which can make them unable to perform many self-care activities, resulting in a drop in their quality of life and a burden on their loved ones. By incorporating evidence from many previous studies on the topic and directly gathering opinions from experts in the field, this thesis' aim was to develop a Virtual Reality application, available through the Meta Quest 3 headset, that can help stroke survivors regain upper limb mobility by performing structured, highly repetitive tasks based on real life activities and inspired by the Graded Repetitive Arm Supplementary Program (GRASP). Users are expected to stretch their paretic limb in many directions and perform fine movements with their paretic hand. After completing the prototype, the application was then tested in an experiment conducted with a group of patients from Centro Puzzle to try to objectively establish whether it could make a difference, in conjunction with traditional physiotherapy, as opposed to traditional rehabilitation by itself. The results were inconclusive, however the application was well liked by patients and the VR technology was well tolerated, with no side effects of note.