Dr Penelope McNulty, senior researcher at Neuroscience Research Australia (NeuRA), will lead a project investigating the delivery of Wii-based Movement Therapy via the NBN in several sites across NSW.
In Wii-based Movement Therapy, participants perform exercises to improve hand and arm movement using virtual sports on the Nintendo Wii.
"Our goal is to improve access to post-stroke rehabilitation for people in remote and regional areas using the internet," says Dr McNulty.
Dr McNulty features in a new television campaign about the NBN because her project takes advantage of broadband to implement multi-camera remote video monitoring with simultaneous data streaming.
"The project requires the bandwidth of the NBN; anything less does not give the resolution, clarity and security of transmission that are essential to my project," she says.
Via the internet, patients using a Wii are supervised by a therapist in Sydney, who receives high quality video images and sensor data to analyse the patient’s movements and provide feedback.
Armidale, one of the first areas to be connected to the NBN, has been selected as a test site for the project. Dr McNulty will collaborate with stroke researchers at Armidale Referral Hospital.
"There is a genuine need to develop new ways of providing post-stroke rehabilitation services to people in rural and regional areas," says Dr McNulty.
This project uses Wii-based Movement Therapy which has been independently peer reviewed and was developed with funding from the NHMRC.
