Can visual feedback of muscle activity be provided by computer games improve motor function after brain injury?

Children with cerebral palsy (CP) and adults recovering from stroke or traumatic brain injury often have weak or poorly coordinated muscles in one arm and hand. In collaboration with Sarah Westcott-McCoy (Rehabilitation Medicine) and Brian Otis (Electrical Engineering), we are investigating a novel treatment for brain injury where subjectsd receive augmented visual feedback of the activity of impaired muscles via a computer game interface. Thus users must contract and relax target muscles in coordinated patterns to control popular computer games (provided by PopCap games).

NeuroGame therapy system used by children with cerebral palsy in Rios et al. 2013