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Techno-table gets patients moving

New video surface helps stroke victim recover

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April Bartlett/St. Albert Gazette

Occupational therapist and St. Albert resident Carla Webb works with Bill Presiznuik and his granddaughter Myiah Presiznuik on an interactive tabletop computer designed to help stroke, injury and surgical patients with upper arm therapy. Presiznuik is recovering from a stroke he suffered more than two months ago and has been using the table to help regain his motor skills.

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Bill Presiznuik says he was just a day away from going home when the stroke hit.

It was July 20. Presiznuik, 66, says he had just had quadruple-bypass surgery at the University of Alberta Hospital, and was walking to the bathroom.

“All of a sudden I started to stumble,” he says. “I knew I was going down.”

One thought ran through his head as the tiles loomed before him: “Boy, is this going to hurt.”

A nurse caught him before the impact, and soon determined that he’d had a stroke — one that paralyzed his left arm and leg. “There was no movement whatsoever.”

His days as a driver were effectively over. But thanks to three months of therapy and a high-tech table, he can now flex his arm, wiggle his fingers and stand on his own two feet.

“We’re doing not too bad.”

Techno-table

Presiznuik is one of about 40 people benefiting from a touch-screen table at the Glenrose Rehabilitation Hospital. Built by University of Alberta PhD student Michelle Annett, the table has been at the hospital since July.

Annett says she got the idea to build the table after meeting with hospital staff. They wanted to use an interactive tabletop to train their patients, so she decided to build one.

The $6,000 prototype is a combination of a mirror, projector and detector, she explains. The projector beams a computer image onto the mirror that reflects it up to the glass table surface. When you put your finger on the glass, it reflects infrared light that the detector can use to track your finger. You can then use your finger to pop balloons, paint faces or match cards.

Touch-screens such as this one have been around for several years, Annett says, but this is the first to be used for physiotherapy. It’s also much cheaper than other models — Microsoft’s costs about $12,000 — and can be customized to fit each patient. “I can make whatever [program] I want.”

Presiznuik says he’s trained on the table for a half-hour, twice a week for six weeks, and has substantially improved the use of his arm and hand. “That finger used to never work,” he says, as he popped virtual balloons with his pointer.

The balloon-popping game forces you to use your full range of movement to hit a moving target, Presiznuik says. “The objects move away from you, so you’ve got to stretch to get the object.”

The result is greater reach, accuracy and motivation, says Carla Webb, the St. Albert therapist working with Presiznuik. “People seem to forget that they’re doing therapy when they’re doing something fun or engaging.”

Future furniture

Patients normally have to stick with shuffling cups or clothespins during therapy, says occupational therapist Quentin Ranson. “It achieves the goal we’re aiming for, but it becomes very boring.”

By keeping patients interested, the table helps them train longer and improve faster. Annett says she’s now working on a bigger multi-patient version of the table, as well as one that can detect objects. A floor-based model for leg movement is also in the works.

Future tables could also be used for non-therapeutic purposes, she says, such as entertaining visitors in a waiting room. “You could basically take it and put it anywhere you want.”

Presiznuik praised staff at the hospital for their help over the last three months. “Every day, I’ve seen a difference,” he says. “I was happy to get up in the morning and know I was going to [physiotherapy] because I knew there was going to be improvement.”

Presiznuik says he planned to leave the hospital this week, and hoped to eventually get back behind the wheel. “In time, I will get my driver’s licence.”