Will your doctor ever try anything newer than medical school?
I don't know I still like stomping roaches to get some aggression out.
"If you have a stroke in the United States in 2014, you're better off
if you're a rodent than if you're a human being," Johns Hopkins
University neuroscientist John Krakauer said when delivering his
presentation "Motor Recovery After Stroke in Mice and Men" at a brain
science research seminar. The rehabilitation therapies we use nowadays
are medieval, he continued on to say, making it loud and clear that now,
"it's time for a revolution."
The 47-year-old, whose medical career is nothing to be scoffed at, is
ready to accept the challenge of redefining the world of physical
therapy, too, with the creation of a new kind of healer equipped with a
set of fins.
Krakauer, who studies movement and human obsession with movement,
worked with Johns Hopkins software architects Omar Ahmad and Promit Roy
as well as Baltimore artist Kat McNally to develop the video game "I Am
Dolphin," which he believes could have applications in therapy,
especially for stroke victims.
An accomplished neuroscientist, Krakauer first joined Johns Hopkins
in 2010 to set up a center for stroke recovery research, including the
BLAM lab (an acronym which stands for brain, learning, animation and
movement), which explains why he would want to create a more effective
post-stroke rehabilitation solution. His advanced knowledge of the
disease that afflicts nearly 800,000 people across the United States
each year and understanding of the economic burden associated with
stroke victims (just about $37 billion in care a year) makes him the man
best fit for the job.
That paired with his appreciation for "the beauty and braininess" of
movement is what led Krakauer to create a simulated dolphin named Bandit
for healing purposes.
Bandit is based on three real bottlenose dolphins housed in the
National Aquarium that were studied for hundreds of hours and then
transformed into digital form.
According to National Geographic,
the simple movement of a stroke patient's arm in a robotic sling will
alter the movement of the virtual dolphin on the screen, allowing Bandit
to swim, catch fish and then swallow its dinner just like a real
dolphin in the wild.
The player feels as if they're one with the dolphin, Omar Ahmad,
director of the Kata Project behind "I Am Dolphin," explained to
National Geographic.
"It's visceral feedback; every subtle movement you do is reflected in
the dolphin," he said. Fair warning: it's addictive, too.
As for how an aquatic video game could help with brain healing,
Krakauer says an injured brain from a stroke can reconfigure itself, but
only during a sensitive post-stroke period window that lasts one to
three months. (He may be smart but he's totally wrong here) So in the clinical trials with Bandit, the game will be
used during that critical time of plasticity when the brain is actually
capable of self-repair. And if successful in helping stroke patients
recover lost motor function faster than traditional therapy used today,
Krakauer's dream of revolutionizing conventional physical therapy
practices could very well become a reality.
This isn't the first time video games has been used in rehab. In
fact, another member of the Johns Hopkins community, Ph.D. student
Xiaoxu Kang, launched her own startup
Rehabtics in October 2012 that uses virtual technology to make the physical therapy experience more fun.
Rehabtics' new software program called
ArmSPOT
leverages gaming technology to better engage patients and make them
more interested in their rehab exercises. Motion cameras transform
patients into avatars onto their computer screens, allowing them to do
their physical therapy routines in a relaxing atmosphere, like on the
beaches of St. Lucia or in a jungle safari.
So perhaps there is promise for "
I Am Dolphin." Try it out for yourself by purchasing the game released through iTunes October 9 for $2.99.
