Digital Engineering Framework for Promoting Health and Human Performance with Immersive Technology

The need for point-of-care health solutions and digital health interventions continues to increase, driven by an aging population and those displaced from the systemic impacts of environmental, infrastructural, and economic factors. These demographic and social shifts are placing unprecedented strain on the healthcare system. In response to these challenges, digital health solutions are emerging, although data indicates low confidence among both consumers and healthcare professionals due to a lack of regulatory oversight compared to traditional medical systems. This research explores the use of augmented reality (AR) technology in physical therapy and rehabilitation as a potential digital health intervention. The focus is on improving upper limb and hand mobility. This study employs a digital engineering design process in collaboration with physical therapists and clinical researchers. The goal is to utilize data from the AR sensors to capture quantitative information about a patient's therapeutic progress. The Digital Engineering framework presented can be applied for improving the validation and verification of technology-based digital health interventions, with the potential to enhance access to rehabilitation resources. Use-case and requirement diagrams are developed through close collaboration with physical therapy clinicians, to assess user engagement and therapeutic outcomes. Activity diagrams capture successive stages of improvement in the proposed system. The performance of the AR application in tracking joint angles and measuring mobility during prescribed gestures is evaluated against published normative values, highlighting the potential of this technology to improve upon manual measurement methods.