A Digital, Game-based Application to Support Treatment of Parkinson's Disease: A Design Thinking Approach

Abstract

One of the most common neurodegenerative disorders that affects more and more people at an advanced age is Parkinson’s disease. Patients suffer from various symptoms and especially the motor restrictions and psychological symptoms worsen the quality of life of the affected persons. The physical therapy for this disease to improve motor performance and complementary exercises is characterised by repetitive training and patients often suffer from a strong exhaustion and lack of motivation due to their disease. To address these problems, a serious game concept for Parkinson's therapy was developed. The concept was created using the Design Thinking methodology for a user-centred design. The final result is the concept and prototype of a competitive multiplayer exergame that was developed to increase the motivation of the patients to participate through social play and the idea of competition in order to support the motor therapy of Parkinson’s disease