Rehabilitation Support Device and Rehabilitation Support Method

Abstract

To effectively improve the movement disorder of a user by supporting rehabilitation.SOLUTION: A rehabilitation support apparatus, the apparatus supporting rehabilitation of a user having the movement disorder, comprises a request section requesting a target movement in a three-dimensional space, and a feedback section performing feedback for stimulating two or more senses out of the five senses, to the user performing the target movement, at substantially the same timing to that performing the target movement.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to a rehabilitation support device and a rehabilitation support method.

Background Art

[0002] In the above technical field, Non-Patent Document 1 discloses rehabilitation for patients with cerebellar ataxia. In particular, on page 202, in the first sentence of "Implications for rehabilitation approaches", it is written that there are no studies that have been established to a certain extent regarding the treatment methods in this field. And it is mainly described that there are two points: a "repair" approach and a "functional assistance" approach.

[0003] Also, Non-Patent Document 2 is the AHA guidelines regarding the treatment after cerebral infarction / cerebral hemorrhage (stroke). On the left column of e122, it writes about "Limb Apraxia", that is, apraxia = a state where the body cannot be moved as desired (motor disorder). Here, it is written that "there is a paucity of research on therapeutic interventions for limb apraxia.", indicating that the research on improving motor disorders has not progressed.

Prior Art Documents

Non-Patent Documents

[0004]

Non-Patent Document 1

Non-Patent Document 2

Summary of the Invention

Problems to be Solved by the Invention

[0005] That is, with the technology described in the above literature, motor disorders could not be effectively improved.

[0006] An object of the present invention is to provide a technology for solving the above problems.

Means for Solving the Problems

[0007] To achieve the above object, the device according to the present invention is Often recognized in patients with movement disorders such as reflex sympathetic dystrophy a pain symptom treatment device for treating pain symptoms of a user having pain, a request unit that requests a three-dimensional body movement as a target movement in a three-dimensional virtual space displayed on a non-transmissive type head-mounted display, a feedback unit that performs feedback for stimulating three senses of vision, hearing, and touch on the user who has performed the target movement within 1 second from the timing of performing the target movement, and is a pain symptom treatment device provided with

[0008] To achieve the above object, the method according to the present invention is a control method of a system for treating pain symptoms of a user having pain Treatment comprising: a request step in which a request unit requests a three-dimensional body movement as a target movement in a three-dimensional virtual space displayed on a non-transmissive type head-mounted display; a feedback step in which a feedback unit performs feedback for stimulating three senses of vision, hearing, and touch on the user who has performed the target movement within 1 second from the timing of performing the target movement; the feedback unit、 Within 1 second from the timing when the target action was performed , output feedback for stimulating the three senses of vision, hearing, and touch of the user who performed the target movement to a head-mounted display, voice output means, and a controller a feedback step, and is a control method including

Advantages of the Invention

[0009] According to the present invention, motor disorders can be effectively improved.

Brief Description of the Drawings

[0010]

Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 3

Modes for Carrying Out the Invention

[0011] Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be exemplarily described in detail with reference to the drawings. However, the components described in the following embodiments are merely examples, and are not intended to limit the technical scope of the present invention thereto.

[0012] [First Embodiment] A rehabilitation support device 100 as a first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. 1. The rehabilitation support system 100 is a device that supports rehabilitation for a user 110 having motor disorders.

[0013] As shown in FIG. 1, the rehabilitation support device 100 includes a request unit 101 and a feedback unit 102. The request unit 101 requests a target action (for example, an action of virtually touching a target object displayed on the display unit 111) within the three-dimensional virtual space displayed on the display unit 111.

[0014] The feedback unit 102 provides feedback that stimulates two or more of the five senses to a user who virtually touches the target object, almost simultaneously with the timing when the target object is touched.

[0015] By performing the above-described multiple feedbacks (multi-channel feedback), motor disorders can be effectively improved. Further, when a motor model is reconstructed in the user's brain by this multi-channel feedback, pain symptoms including phantom limb pain are improved.

[0016] [Second Embodiment] The rehabilitation support system 200 according to the second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. 2. FIG. 2 is a diagram for explaining the configuration of the rehabilitation support system 200 according to the present embodiment.

[0017] As shown in FIG. 2, the rehabilitation support system 200 includes a rehabilitation support device 210, two base stations 231 and 232, a head-mounted display 233, and two controllers 234 and 235. The user 220 performs rehabilitation operations by sitting on the chair 221 and tilting, twisting the upper body, or stretching the hands in various directions in accordance with the display on the head-mounted display 233. In the present embodiment, the description is based on the premise of rehabilitation mainly using the upper limbs while sitting on a chair, but the present invention is not limited thereto. For example, it may be performed on a bed, in a standing position, or by attaching sensors to parts other than the hands, operations using the lower limbs, the trunk, fingers, head, or face may be performed. By using VR, even a patient who cannot sit can perform maximum rehabilitation on the bed.

[0018] The two base stations 231 and 232 detect the movements of the head-mounted display 233 and the controllers 234 and 235, and send the detected information to the rehabilitation support device 210. The rehabilitation support device 210 evaluates the rehabilitation movements of the user 220 while controlling the display of the head-mounted display 233. The head-mounted display 233 can be of a non-transmissive type, a video see-through type, or an optical see-through type. Furthermore, as the video display means, monitors can be arranged around or on a part of the surroundings, or three-dimensional video technologies such as holograms or alternative means can be used. That is, any means such as Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, or Mixed Reality can be used. Additionally, the system may be configured using real objects without using video. A headphone speaker 236 is attached to the head-mounted display 233, and the rehabilitation support device 210 outputs voice corresponding to the evaluation result of the rehabilitation movements of the user 220 from the headphone speaker 236. Note that the voice output means is not limited to headphones, and bone conduction earphones or external acoustic devices may also be used.

[0019] In this embodiment, as an example of the sensors for detecting the movements of the user 220, the controllers 234 and 235 held by the user 220 and the base stations 231 and 232 are shown, but the present invention is not limited thereto. Cameras (including depth sensors) for detecting the position of the user's hand by image processing, sensors for detecting the position of the user's hand by temperature, wristwatch-type wearable terminals worn on the user's arm, etc., and motion capture, gyro sensors built into various devices, etc. may be included in the motion detection unit.

[0020] The rehabilitation support device 210 includes a motion detection unit 211, a display control unit 212, a request unit 213, an evaluation unit 214, an update unit 215, a task set database 216, and a feedback unit 217.

[0021] The motion detection unit 211 acquires the positions of the controllers 234 and 235 held by the user 220 via the base stations 231 and 232, and detects the rehabilitation motion of the user 220 based on the changes in the positions of the user 220's left and right hands.

[0022] The display control unit 212 generates an avatar object 241 that moves according to the detected rehabilitation motion and a target object 242 that indicates the target of the rehabilitation motion in the virtual space. Then, images of the avatar object 241 and the target object 242 are displayed on the display screen 240 according to the orientation and position of the head-mounted display 233 detected by the motion detection unit 211. The images of the avatar object 241 and the target object 242 are superimposed on the background image 243. Here, the avatar object 241 has the same shape as the controllers 234 and 235, but is not limited thereto. The avatar object 241 moves in the display screen 240 in accordance with the movement of the controllers 234 and 235. As shown on the avatar object 241, buttons are provided on the controllers 234 and 235, and various setting operations and the like are configured to be possible.

[0023] The display control unit 212 displays the target object 242 in the display screen 240. The display control unit 212 moves the target object 242 in the display screen 240 while gradually changing the display position and size. For example, the target object 242 may be moved and displayed as if it is descending from above the user 220's head downward, or the target object 242 may be moved and displayed as if it is approaching the user 220. Here, an example in which the target object 242 moves has been described, but the present invention is not limited thereto, and a stationary target object 242 may be displayed.

[0024] User 220 moves controllers 234 and 235 to bring the avatar object 241 on the screen closer to the target object 242. When the avatar object 241 hits the target object 242, the display control unit 212 eliminates the target object 242, and the feedback unit 217 displays a message 250 assuming that the target operation has been achieved. To make the evaluation more stringent, the rehabilitation operation may be evaluated based on how much the distance between the sensor object (for example, the center point of the avatar object 241) included in the avatar object 241 and the target object 242 has shrunk. Multiple target operations may be prepared simultaneously without fixing the target operation to a single target object. For example, the trajectory such as how to move the hand or how to move the lower limbs during walking may be set as the target operation.

[0025] The feedback unit 217 preferably changes the message 250 via the display control unit 212 according to the evaluation of the rehabilitation operation. For example, if the sensor object touches the center of the target object 242, "Well done" is displayed, and if the sensor object touches only the peripheral part of the center of the target object 242, "Good job" is displayed.

[0026] The task set database 216 stores a set of multiple tasks. A task indicates one rehabilitation operation that the user should perform. Specifically, as information representing one task, it stores at what position, at what speed, and what size the target object appears, and at that time, what size the avatar object was.

[0027] Specifically, the size of the left and right target objects 242, the size of the avatar object 241 (sensor object), the falling (motion) speed of the target object 242, and the position of the target object become the content of the task. More specifically, in each of the right and left, the radius (visual recognition size) of the visual recognition object for making the position of the target object easier to see, and the radius (evaluation size) of the target object that reacts with the avatar object 241 can also be set as the content of the task. That is, while showing the user a ball with a radius of 20 cm, it is only when touching the ball with a radius of 10 cm located at the center of that ball that an "excellent" evaluation is given. If the visual recognition size is small, it becomes difficult for the user to find the target object. If the visual recognition size is increased, it becomes easier for the user to find the target object. If the evaluation size is increased, the allowable deviation of the avatar object 241 becomes larger, and the allowable degree of misalignment increases. If the evaluation size is decreased, the allowable deviation of the avatar object 241 becomes smaller, and the rehabilitation motion can be evaluated more severely. It is also possible to make these visual recognition sizes and evaluation sizes match.

[0028] The sensor sizes (sizes of the sensor objects) of the avatar objects 241 can also be set differently for the left and right. If the sensor size is large, even if the hand position is greatly deviated from the target object, it is considered that the task has been achieved, so the difficulty level of the rehabilitation motion decreases. Conversely, if the sensor size is small, the hand must be accurately moved to the central region of the target object (depending on the evaluation size), so the difficulty level of the rehabilitation motion increases.

[0029] When there is a left - right difference in motor ability, such as motor disorders due to sequelae of cerebral infarction, more effective rehabilitation can be performed by changing the sensor sizes of the avatar objects for the left and right.

[0030] The task set database 216 stores a task set that determines in what order to provide the user with the plurality of tasks as described above. For example, the task set may be stored as a template for each hospital, or the history of the executed task sets may be stored for each user. The rehabilitation support device 210 may be configured to be communicable with other rehabilitation support devices via the Internet. In that case, one task set can be executed by the same user at multiple locations, or various templates can be shared among multiple users at different locations.

[0031] The request unit 213 requests, via the display control unit 212, an operation of virtually touching the target object 242 displayed on the display unit 240 according to the task set read from the task set database 216. Here, the target object does not have to be fixed to a single target object, and a plurality of them may be prepared at the same time. For example, the trajectory such as the way of moving the hand or the way of moving the lower limbs during walking may be set as the target motion. Also, as the target object, a real object may be prepared instead of a virtual one.

[0032] The feedback unit 217 performs feedback that stimulates two or more of the five senses on the user who has virtually touched the target object 242, almost simultaneously with the timing of touching the target object 242. For example, if it is within 1 second, the effect is high, and the closer the interval between the user's operation timing and the feedback timing (the smaller the delay), the greater the effect.

[0033] Here, the feedback unit 217 performs feedback that stimulates the user's vision with an image of "Well done!" and at the same time performs feedback that stimulates the user's hearing with the sound output from the speaker 236.

[0034] Furthermore, the feedback unit 217 may simultaneously output feedback that stimulates the user 220's vision with an image of "Amazing!", feedback that stimulates the user 220's hearing with sound output from the speaker 236, and feedback that stimulates the user 220's sense of touch by vibrating the controller 234.

[0035] Alternatively, the feedback unit 217 may simultaneously output only two types of feedback: feedback that stimulates the user 220's vision with an image of "Amazing!" and feedback that stimulates the user 220's sense of touch by vibrating the controller 234.

[0036] Or, the feedback unit 217 may simultaneously output only two types of feedback: feedback that stimulates the user 220's hearing with a voice of "Amazing!" and feedback that stimulates the user 220's sense of touch by vibrating the controller 234.

[0037] As described above, by returning feedback that stimulates two or more of the five senses almost simultaneously with the user's rehabilitation movement, the user's motor disorder can be innovatively restored. That is, such a feedback method is very effective in correcting the user's body control, and can achieve a remarkable effect that could not be achieved at all with conventional feedback with a large delay from the timing of achieving the target movement, such as when a therapist verbally provides it, or with single-sense feedback. With conventional feedback with a large delay, it is difficult for the user to feel a sense of achievement in the rehabilitation movement, and the motor model in the brain could not be reconstructed. By realizing almost real-time feedback with a small delay using two or more sense stimulations, the disorder of the motor system is dramatically improved. That is, it is possible to improve the user's motor disorder that could not be improved by the existing methods. Furthermore, by using three or more input sense stimulations, it becomes possible to maintain the motor model reconstructed in the brain for a longer period of time.

[0038] The evaluation unit 214 compares the rehabilitation motion detected by the motion detection unit 211 with the target position represented by the target object displayed by the display control unit 212 to evaluate the rehabilitation ability of the user 220. Specifically, it evaluates by comparing the positions of the avatar object 241 that moves corresponding to the rehabilitation motion detected by the motion detection unit 211 and the target object 242 in the three-dimensional virtual space.

[0039] If these match, it is evaluated that the task has been completely cleared, and points are fully added. Even if the positions do not match, if they are within a predetermined distance, it is evaluated that the task has been partially cleared, and points are partially added. These evaluations by the evaluation unit 214 are performed in conjunction with the real-time multi-channel feedback of the feedback unit 217. Therefore, the types and intensities of the input stimuli of these real-time multi-channel feedbacks may be appropriately adjusted according to the type of the target movement and its degree of achievement. For example, in the case of visual stimuli, the size, color, light intensity of characters or display objects, the stimulation time of visual stimuli, the stimulation pattern such as performing multiple times at regular intervals, whether to perform visual stimulation individually on the left and right or simultaneously using both eyes, may be changed according to the type of the target movement and its degree of achievement. Further, in the case of auditory stimuli, the type, volume, sound transmission means of the sound, the stimulation time of auditory stimuli, the stimulation pattern such as stimulating with a specific rhythm, whether to perform auditory stimulation individually on the left and right or simultaneously from both ears, may be changed according to the type of the target movement and its degree of achievement. In the case of tactile stimuli, the pattern of tactile stimuli such as the vibration pattern and the duration of vibration stimulation, the intensity of temperature perception stimuli such as vibration, pain, or cold or hot, or whether to stimulate a specific part or multiple parts of the tactile stimuli, may be changed according to the type of the target movement and its degree of achievement. For example, when only a part of the target movement can be achieved, the characters can be made smaller, the sound can be made smaller, and the tactile vibration stimulation can be made weaker, or the degree of achievement can be feedback in a form of making only one of them weaker or stronger. The way of setting the strength of the stimuli may use an inverse pattern such as making the tactile stimuli stronger but the auditory stimuli weaker. Also, for example, in the case of feedback related to walking movements of the lower limbs, etc., the vibration stimulation of specific parts such as the lower limbs may be made stronger. Also, in the case of feedback related to upper limb movements, the visual stimuli may be made stronger. Further, in the case of feedback on the movement of fingers (toes), the pitch of the auditory stimuli may be adjusted according to whether the movement of the left or right finger (toe) is achieved. Also, in the case of feedback related to the movement of the trunk, the stimulation site may be changed according to the direction of the posture shift, for example, in the case of the front, tactile stimulation may be applied to the ventral side of the trunk.Furthermore, in the case of feedback on facial movements, for example, when the target movement of the mouth is specified and achieved, the auditory stimulus, such as using the word "mouth", should use the name of the organ where the movement was performed. The type and intensity of the feedback can be adjusted as appropriate according to the type of target movement and the degree of its achievement. Also, for example, even when the period for giving a certain stimulus exceeds 1 second, if the start of the feedback is almost simultaneous (within 1 second etc.) with the achievement of the target movement, there is no problem in giving the feedback. Further, the feedback unit 217 preferably determines which body part the user 220 moved to perform the target movement, and gives feedback that stimulates the tactile sensation to the body part of the user 220 that performed the target movement. That is, for example, when the rehabilitation movement is performed by moving the right foot, it is preferable to give feedback such as applying vibration to the right foot.

[0040] The display control unit 212 can cause the target object 242 to appear at different positions (for example, three levels of positions) in the depth direction. The evaluation unit 214 assigns different points (high points for distant objects and low points for near objects) respectively.

[0041] The update unit 215 updates the target task according to the accumulated points. For example, the target task may be updated using the task achievement rate (number of targets achieved / number of tasks).

[0042] Figure 3 is a flowchart showing the processing flow in the rehabilitation support device 210.

[0043] In step S301, as a calibration process, the goal of the rehabilitation movement is initialized according to the user. Specifically, each patient is first asked to perform an operation within the feasible range as calibration, and after setting it as the initial value, the goal is initialized according to the user.

[0044] Next, in step S303, the task is started. Specifically, in addition to the method where the operator specifies each task in real time, a task set called a template may be read from the task set database, and task requests (that is, the display of the target object by the display control unit 212) may be made in order from a plurality of preset tasks.

[0045] In step S305, the target object corresponding to the specified task is displayed. In step S307, it is determined whether the task has been achieved. If it has been achieved, the process proceeds to step S309, and real-time multi-channel feedback that stimulates at least two of the user's five senses is performed. In step S309, the type and intensity of the preset multi-channel feedback are selected according to the intensity and type of each target motion.

[0046] Furthermore, in step S311, it is determined whether all tasks have been completed. If not, the process returns to step S303 to start the next task. If it is completed, the cumulative points are calculated and the process ends.

[0047] <Self-experimental example> As findings from intractable disease cases such as cerebellar ataxia, cerebral hemorrhage, cerebral palsy, paralysis after cerebral infarction, progressive supranuclear palsy, etc., when there is a motor disorder at a level that does not recover even if the previous therapist's rehabilitation (※ that is, only feedback with a delay such as orally) is continued, examples where the motor disorder gradually improves in units of several weeks have been found by performing real-time feedback of single stimuli (only vision, only hearing, etc.). However, there are also many examples where there is no improvement at all, and the degree of improvement is often slight.

[0048] However, for such patients, by providing real-time multi-channel feedback from two senses (vision and hearing, vision and touch, or hearing and touch), the construction of a movement model in the brain progresses in units of minutes, and many cases have been confirmed in which the movement disorder improves dramatically. However, also in this case, the memory period of the constructed movement model is short, and in many cases, the period during which the functional improvement is maintained in one treatment intervention is at most about one week.

[0049] In contrast, when providing real-time multi-channel feedback from three senses (vision, hearing, and touch), in addition to the fact that the construction of the movement model in the brain can be achieved in units of minutes, many cases have been found in which the period during which the functional improvement is maintained in one treatment intervention exceeds one week. The efficiency of memory consolidation improved dramatically compared to when providing feedback from two sensory organs. These results were empirically confirmed by treatment interventions for multiple patients. In addition, along with the construction of the movement model in the brain, improvement was also observed in pain symptoms (including phantom limb pain) often seen in movement disorder patients, such as so-called RSD (reflex sympathetic dystrophy). For example, in a questionnaire using the Visual Analogue Scale, which is a pain scale, results such as the VAS improving from 5 to 0 were obtained by such treatment. These treatment effects were confirmed by multiple doctors, physical therapists, and occupational therapists to be dramatic effects that could not be achieved by conventional medicine.

[0050] As described above, according to the present embodiment, by performing multiple feedbacks (multi-channel feedback) almost simultaneously (within 1 second or the like) with the achievement of the target movement using two or more sensory organs, the movement model can be reconstructed very efficiently in the brain, and the movement disorder can be effectively improved. In addition, when the movement model is reconstructed in the user's brain by this real-time multi-channel feedback, pain symptoms including phantom limb pain caused by defects or gaps in the brain movement model are improved. [Other Embodiments] The present invention has been described with reference to the embodiments, but the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments. Various changes that can be understood by those skilled in the art can be made to the configuration and details of the present invention within the scope of the present invention. In addition, a system or device in which the separate features included in each embodiment are combined in any manner is also included in the scope of the present invention.

[0051] Further, the present invention may be applied to a system composed of a plurality of devices or to a single device. Furthermore, the present invention is also applicable when a rehabilitation support program that realizes the functions of the embodiments is supplied directly or remotely to a system or a device. Therefore, in order to realize the functions of the present invention by a computer, a program installed in the computer, a medium storing the program, or a WWW (World Wide Web) server for downloading the program are also included in the scope of the present invention. In particular, at least a non-transitory computer readable medium storing a program for causing a computer to execute the processing steps included in the above-described embodiments is included in the scope of the present invention.

Claims

A pain symptom treatment device for treating pain symptoms in a user having pain often recognized in patients with movement disorders such as reflex sympathetic dystrophy, comprising: a request unit that requests a three-dimensional body movement as a target movement in a three-dimensional virtual space displayed on a non-transmissive type head-mounted display; a feedback unit that performs feedback for stimulating three senses of vision, hearing, and touch on the user who has performed the target movement within 1 second from the timing of performing the target movement; A pain symptom treatment device comprising the above.

2. The pain symptom treatment device according to claim 1, wherein the target movement is an operation of touching a target object in the three-dimensional virtual space.

3. The pain symptom treatment device according to claim 1, wherein the target movement is an operation of moving a part of the body along a locus in the three-dimensional virtual space.

4. The pain symptom treatment device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the request unit can change the request accuracy of the target movement.

5. The pain symptom treatment device according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the feedback unit performs feedback according to the type and degree of achievement of the target movement.

6. The pain symptom treatment device according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the feedback unit determines which body part the user moved to perform the target movement, and performs feedback for stimulating the sense of touch on the body part of the user who has performed the target movement.

7. A control method for a treatment system for treating pain symptoms in a user having pain, comprising: a request step in which a request unit requests a three-dimensional body movement as a target movement in a three-dimensional virtual space displayed on a non-transmissive type head-mounted display; A feedback step in which the feedback unit provides feedback that stimulates the three senses of vision, hearing, and touch to the user who has performed the target operation within 1 second from the timing when the target operation was performed. A feedback step in which the feedback unit outputs, within 1 second from the timing when the target operation was performed, feedback for stimulating the three senses of vision, hearing, and touch of the user who has performed the target operation to a head-mounted display, voice output means, and a controller. A control method including the above.

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