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Validation of a 3D Instrumented Serious Game to Evaluate Upper Limb Impairments in Children With Neuromotor Disorders

Validation of a 3D Motion Analysis Protocol With an Instrumented Game to Evaluate Upper Limb Impairments in Children With Neuromotor Disorders

Status
Not yet recruiting
Phases
NA
Study type
Interventional
Source
ClinicalTrials.gov
Registry ID
NCT06774456
Acronym
Play2BEAPI
Enrollment
40
Registered
2025-01-14
Start date
2025-02-28
Completion date
2027-01-31
Last updated
2025-01-14

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Brain Injury, Cerebral Palsy, Neurological; Disorder, Nervous System

Keywords

Children, upper limb, motion analysis, serious game, neuromotor disorders, bimanual function, electromyography

Brief summary

The goal of this clinical trial is to validate an instrumented 3D serious game to assess upper limb impairments in children with neuromotor disorders. The main questions are: * Does an instrumented 3D serious game can provide a set of validated upper limb movement features with good reliability, validity and responsiveness ? * Does the instrumented 3D serious game could provide better immersion, adhesion, usability and satisfaction than a classic 3D protocol, thanks to the developped environment ? Researchers will compare children with neuromotor disorders and typically developing children to assess discriminant validity of the new assessement. Children with neuromotor disorders will have 2 visits to the hospital : * Visit 1 : children will perform a validated 3D protocol and the instrumented 3D serious game * Visit 2 : children will have a clinical examination and will perform the instrumented 3D serious game Typically developing children will have one visit to the hospital. They will perform the instrumented 3D serious game.

Detailed description

The instrumented 3D serious game (BE API 3.0) will be performed during a 3D motion analysis session. It is composed of: * One screen (35 pouces) * Game set up (2-handed joystick, turbo, shifter, dashboard, box, coins and buzzer) instrumented with sensors to link the game and measure grasp strength. * Software: Unity software (version 2022.3.21f1, Unity Technologies, San Francisco, California, USA) The game is composed of bimanual tasks integrated into a game scenario. The child is first equipped with markers on the UL and trunk, and he/she can then play the game. There are several tasks ('piloting missions') to evaluate specific UL movements. The UL movements are recorded when the child is playing. The instruments of the set-up (wheel, turbo, etc.) are connected to the game to play and can also be used as measurements (grip strength, etc.). The markers are then removed. The total duration of the game is about 30-45 minutes, including placing/removing markers and the game.

Interventions

DEVICEinstrumented 3D serious game (BE API 3.0)

It is composed of bimanual tasks integrated into a game scenario. The child is first equipped with markers on the upper limb (UL) and trunk (3D motion analysis and electromyography), and he/she can then play the game. There are several tasks ('piloting missions') to evaluate specific UL movements. The UL movements are recorded when the child is playing. The instruments of the set-up (wheel, turbo, etc.) are connected to the game to play and can also be used as measurements (grip strength, etc.). The markers are then removed. The total duration of the game is about 30-45 minutes, including placing/removing markers and the game.

Sponsors

University Hospital, Geneva
Lead SponsorOTHER

Study design

Allocation
NON_RANDOMIZED
Intervention model
PARALLEL
Primary purpose
OTHER
Masking
NONE

Eligibility

Sex/Gender
ALL
Age
5 Years to 13 Years
Healthy volunteers
Yes

Inclusion criteria

* Children with NMD * Informed Consent signed by the subject * Aged from 5 to 13 years, * Non-progressive neurological lesions (cerebral palsy, stroke, traumatic brain injury, etc.), * With sufficient grasp ability to perform the 3D protocol tasks (MACS level I to III), * TD children * Informed Consent signed by the subject * Aged from 5 to 13 years,

Exclusion criteria

* Children with neuromotor disorders * inability to follow the procedures of the investigation because of severe cognitive or visual disturbances, * upper limb (UL) disorders that may affect movement (fractures less than 6 months prior to participation, pain (visual analogic score (VAS) score \> 0), etc.). * previous UL surgery, and botulinum toxin injections less than three months prior to participation, * TD children * Inability to follow the procedures of the investigation because of severe visual disturbances, * UL disorders that may affect movement (fractures less than 6 months prior to participation, pain (VAS score \> 0), etc.).

Design outcomes

Primary

MeasureTime frameDescription
Arm Profile ScoreBaseline and 2 weeks afterA kinematic index (upper limb movement feature) which reflects the severity of the deviations of the subject's movement compared with a group of typically developing children. The measure ranges from 0° to infinity. The measure is expressed in degrees. The higher the measure, the more abnormal the deviation is.

Secondary

MeasureTime frameDescription
Movement quality - smoothnessBaseline and 2 weeks afterA movement features obtained with 3D motion analysis (spectral arc length). No unit
Movement quality - trajectoryBaseline and 2 weeks afterA movement features obtained with 3D motion analysis (index of curvature), in degrees
Spatiotemporal - velocityBaseline and 2 weeks afterA movement features obtained with 3D motion analysis. Velocity, in meter/seconds
Spatiotemporal - durationBaseline and 2 weeks afterA movement features obtained with 3D motion analysis. Duration in seconds
ElectromyographyBaseline and 2 weeks aftermuscle activity in microVolt
Muscle strength1 dayMuscle strength will be evaluated using the Medical Research Council scale (Paternostro-Sluga et al., 2008), a six-point ordinal scale from 0 to 5 in which 0 indicates no muscle contraction and 5 indicates normal strength. A composite strength score will be defined as the sum of the muscle weakness scores (total score: 0-80).
Muscle spasticity1 dayMuscle spasticity will be evaluated with the Modified Ashworth Scale (MAS) (Mutlu et al., 2008), a six-point ordinal scale, rating from 0 to 4 (possible scores: 0,1,1+,2,3,4). A score of 0 represents normal muscle tone, whereas a score of 4 corresponds to no possible movement due to rigidity. A composite spasticity score, rated from 0 to 5, will be defined as the sum of MAS scores for each child (total score: 0-80 \[16 muscles × 5 levels\]).
KinematicsBaseline and 2 weeks afterJoint angular values, in degrees
Melbourne Assessment Test1 dayIt is a valid and reliable criterion-referenced test of impaired upper limb movement quality. The final score is reported as 4 separate sub-scores, 1 for each item of movement quality, reported on a scale from 0-100%, where 100% corresponds to full functional capacity.
Assisting Hand Assessment (AHA)1 dayIt is video recorded and rated using video-based scoring. It involves the evaluation of 22 bimanual activities. The total score ranges from 0 to 100 AHA-units; 100 AHA-units indicates normal spontaneous use of the impaired hand.
Abilhand-Kids1 dayIt is a questionnaire of bimanual daily life activities addressed to parents. Parents are asked to rate their child's difficulty on a 3-level scale (range from 0 to 2) for 21 items. The manual ability scale is calibrated in logits (i.e., log-odds units).
Short Feedback Questionnaire1 dayIt is a short post-immersive and presence questionnaire containing only six questions. Each item is rated from 0 to 5 (1 = not at all ; 5 = very much)
User Satisfaction Evaluation Questionnaire1 dayIt is a questionnaire developed in order to evaluate user satisfaction with rehabilitation systems. It comprises six questions that can be rated on a Likert scale ranging from 1 (not at all) to 5 (very much).
System Usability Scale1 dayIt is a questionnaire of usability. It is composed of 10 items. Only for the purpose of this study, the word interface in the items has been used interchangeably with the word game. Each item's score ranged from 0 to 4. For items 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9 (odd-numbered items) the score contribution was the scale position minus 1. For items 2, 4, 6, 8 and 10 (even-numbered items) the score contribution was 5 minus the scale position. Next, we multiplied the sum of scores by 2.5 to obtain the overall System Usability value. SUS scores range from 0 to 100.
Muscle selectivity1 dayMuscle selectivity was evaluated using selective motor control (SMC) (Masson, n.d.), a five-point ordinal scale from 0 to 2, in increments of 0.5, in which a score of 2 corresponded to normal selectivity. A composite selectivity score was defined as the sum of the muscle selectivity scores (total score: 0-32).

Countries

Switzerland

Contacts

Primary ContactMarine Cacioppo, MD, PhD
marine.cacioppo@hug.ch+41 79 553 84 67

Outcome results

None listed

Source: ClinicalTrials.gov · Data processed: Feb 4, 2026