Kinect-Based Approach for Upper Body Movement Assessment in Stroke

In this paper, we investigate how the objective movement assessment can support the clinical practice in the stroke treatment. The movement data are collected using vision-based, low-cost and marker-free Kinect sensor device. Sensor recordings are collected in the hospital settings for stroke outpatients with the supervision of medical doctors. We propose movement performance indicators, extracted from the sensor signals, to characterize the movements. The proposed approach for movement quantification is intended to support the clinical evaluations and to monitor the patients' state over time. The emphasis is on the verification of the proposed indicators and investigation of their importance for the stroke relevant clinical aspects.