HIMO

Treating flat foot with games

This project has received funding from DIGI-B-CUBE voucher framework which has been supported by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 824920.

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HIMO Prototype

A full prototype was developed to validate the concept. It offers a whole therapy session from warmup to stretching.

HIMO GAME ONE

Superhero Academy is a game where you can parkour through a city, performing the special exercises.

MOBILE APPS

Mobile apps do the gesture recognition. They can be used stand-alone or integrated with the game

VIDEOS

Warm up before the flat foot exercises and streching after are presented in videos.

DOWNLOAD

Go to the download page to get the game and the Android app. iOS app is available in the App Store.

Download page

Health In Motion

Physiotherapy might not be the activity that makes a child’s heart beat faster. Video games do. Children love to play.

HIMO intergrates the exercises with video games. Imagine a car that moves only when you are standing tiptoe. Or Super Mario who jumps when you draw your toes in.

The heart of HIMO is a band placed around the user’s lower leg. The embedded sensors detect the muscle activity and the movements of the foot are connected to game actions. 

Benefits

HIMO makes life easier for the therapists and the parents.

If the children love the activity, the therapist can focus on the efficiency of the exercises, instead of motivating her little patient. Thus better results can be achieved in shorter time. Better results lead to more clients and improved client satisfaction.

Simple & straightforward

It can be used without special training. It can be used at home. Because exercising at home has no match. The more exercise the faster results.

Remote supervision

The data collected and saved by the system can be accessed and analyzed remotely by the therapist.

Reliability

Consciously or unconsciously, patients tend to cheat. HIMO detects muscle activity not just the movement, to eliminate this problem.

The Context

Flat foot seems to be the most common orthopedic issue  in pediatrics. If it is not adressed in childhood, it can cause serious health problems later.

Treatment means physiotherapy for month, maybe even years . But physiotherapy is boring, especially for kids.

On the other hand, the limited availability of trained professionals is a well know phenomenon in every field of health care. Many families do not have the physical and financial means to visit a therapist as often as required.