Patient Engagement Platform for Remote Monitoring of Vestibular Rehabilitation with Applications in Concussion Management and Elderly Fall Prevention

Joseph Peter Salisbury, Runpeng Liu, Lindsey Marie Minahan, Hye Young Shin, Sai Veda Pramoda Karnati, Shannon E. Duffy, Neha U. Keshav, Ned T. Sahin

Abstract: Vestibular rehabilitation therapy includes exercises known to be an effective treatment for persistent symptoms of dizziness. Despite this, dizziness often remains untreated from lack of adequate training, feedback, and patient engagement. To address this, we propose a patient engagement platform for improving vestibular rehabilitation therapy outcomes. The platform includes an exercise measuring smartphone application and a web portal for physical therapists to manage their patients. The platform enables patients to have real-time instruction and performance feedback of therapeutic exercises, gamifies exercises so they are engaging and motivational, and enables physical therapists to remotely monitor exercise adherence and performance. Here, we describe platform functionality and demonstrate a novel computer vision-driven method for measuring vestibular exercises using a smartphone. Continued iterative development of this system will aide physical therapists in improving vestibular rehabilitation outcomes, including post-concussion management and elderly fall prevention.