Study on the Application of Gamification as an Adjuvant Therapeutics for Nonspecific Neck Pain (Preprint)

Abstract

Chronic nonspecific neck pain is hard-to-treat and highly prevalent. Gamification, by motivating patients to do exercises regularly, can help prevent the disease and make the treatment much easier. However, relevant studies are rarely seen.

The study aims to propose a scientific framework for developing gamified motion sensing health Apps, under which it seeks to combine motion capture technology in practice to develop a gamified App for the prevention and adjuvant treatment of chronic nonspecific neck pain, and evaluate its efficacy.

Based on Game for Health (G4H), a health theory for game design, specifications for digital health App design, and Gameflow, the game experience evaluation model, this paper proposed a framework for developing gamified motion sensing health App, GMH. Based on the GMH framework, a set of digital health gamification Apps was developed using motion capture technologies. In addition, experiments were designed to test the effects of the neck exercise of the gamified motion sensing interaction on exercise intervention under limited conditions. A total of 20 subjects participated in this study. They were divided into experimental group A and control group B, with 10 subjects in each group. Group A installed the gamification software designed to exercise. Group B only learned cervical spine health knowledge through conventional methods for four days. The subjects’ Neck Disability Index (NDI) data was collected, and so was the data such as the average steps they walk per day and heart rate before and after the test.

The experimental group’s overall average NDI dropped by 0.13, and the average steps they walked per day increased by 22.66% during the experiment period. The 10 subjects in the experimental group all reported positive data results under the three measurement dimensions of “perceived usability,” “perceived ease of use,” and “willingness to continue using” in the Technology Acceptance Model. Additionally, they reported that the gamification App provided was helpful to their recovery.

This study proposed a scientific and effective framework for developing gamified motion sensing health Apps. Under this framework, the adjuvant treatment App for chronic nonspecific neck pain named “Upright Life” produced satisfactory effects , providing a credible and innovative research case for this field.