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Abstract: "People with motor disabilities have a limitation or a loss of capacity carrying out activities considered as normal for human beings. This may incline the relationship with the society and thus it is essential for these people to undergo therapeutic treatments. However, rehabilitation is a tedious process that often fails due to that patients drop treatment. For this reason, this thesis investigates if music in a serious game for rehabilitation can make the experience to become more engaging and, accordingly, whether positive experiences from playing such a game can encourage the rehabilitation process of a patient i.e. to make the rehabilitation process less tedious for the patient. The results, based on a pilot study conducted in a rehabilitation center, indicates that this is the case and further research on the matter is suggested."

"Strokes are a leading cause of death and disability and have been described as a "worldwide epidemic" [5]. Strokes cause disability, partial paralysis and leave up to 85% of their victims with some form of motor impairment. Stroke rehabilitation starts as soon as possible and involves repetitive movement which people find repetitive and boring. A study [1] has found that as few as 31% of people complete their exercises as recommended. Adding to this the high cost of one on one therapy and transport to see specialists, stroke rehabilitation is a major problem. Games have been trialed for stroke rehabilitation to increase patient motivation and reduce costs. This literature review aims to find out to what extent games have therapeutic value and further, what characteristics make a good game for stroke rehabilitation. We find that in order for a game to be successful it must be based on solid therapeutic principles as well as game design principles including "challenge" and "meaningful feedback". Different hardware and software can be used as long as it follows game design principles to encourage patients to perform therapeutic exercises. Games must also take into account the low morale of recent stroke victims and avoid discouraging beginners."

"This study applied the concept of closed chain exercise to WaterBall, which combines rehabilitation exercises with a digital game. By using WaterBall, the elderly can enjoy the benefits of both entertainment and rehabilitation. In addition, WaterBall provides multi-touch control, is easy to use, and have the potential to improve physical activity in older adults The elderly can play the game intuitively. WaterBall Exergaming was used by 52 residents of an elderly community, and they reported that WaterBall offers exercise and fitness, enhances the efficiency of exercises, and provides entertainment and interaction."

Abstract: "The development of serious games, requires the participation and collaboration of several disciplines; as in the following thesis, showing the collaboration between physiotherapists and developers. Obviously good collaboration and understanding requires a tool that allows passage of information from one discipline to another. One example of such a tool is the concept of patterns. The concept has been adopted in many communities, one of which is game design where they have been called game design patterns, to offer the same advantages with additional benefits. In the following thesis we use game design patterns in order to translate the requirements of physiotherapists into a serious game. Or more precisely, the aim is to satisfy the requirements of physiotherapists as movements, motivation, and other features and map them into patterns and translate them in a serious game. The validation of the mapping was carried out in three different ways: with the physiotherapists, patients, and finally with game designers. The work carried out, shows an example of how game design patterns can be used to satisfy the requirements of physiotherapists in a game for rehabilitation."

Abstract: "Serious games can help to improve efficacy of motor rehabilitation especially in a home environment. We introduce " The Sorcerer's Apprentice" , a serious game improving strength and mobility of the shoulder area targeting support of supervised phy siotherapy . It proposes a customizable environment for supplementary exercises in the context of rehabilitation for a one - sided Shoulder - Impingement - Syndrome. We introduce the medical background of the shoulder impingement syndrome, how the game aims to im prove the health status of the patients through several options of exercises and how these exercises are embedded into the flow of game play. We will further explain how motivational factors are implemented and which additional factors were relevant in the design process. As the game makes use of motion tracking for input, we utilized Microsoft Kinect as a low - cost IO device suitable for a home - environment use case. "

"Motion-based games help to increase the likelihood that a patient will complete therapeutic exercises at home by using a game context to motivate the patients. The scope of this paper is to explore the interactive technologies that are used to develop these games, and their value in the context of stroke rehabilitation. The games will be evaluated from both a result focused perspective and patient usability perspective."

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) disrupts the central and executive mechanisms of arm(s) and postural (trunk and legs) coordination. To address these issues, we developed a 3D immersive videogame-- Octopus. The game was developed using the basic principles of videogame design and previous experience of using videogames for rehabilitation of patients with acquired brain injuries.