Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital

The overall goal of this study is to establish the clinical utility and accuracy of markerless motion captures systems for tracking therapy exercises and movement during game play. Specific aims are:
1. To evaluate the accuracy of the kinematic metrics tracked by marker-less motion capture systems by comparing them to the gold standard marker-based Motion Analysis system.
2. To assess agreement between exercise repetition counts and clinical assessment scores determined from data collected by the markerless motion capture systems compared to the gold standard marker-based Motion Analysis system and a trained clinician.
3. To explore the extent to which kinematic metrics collected during gameplay (e.g. smoothness of movement, symmetry index) can discriminate different motor abilities.
4. To understand children's perspectives on motion capture video games in the context of rehabilitation.
Participants will:
Perform active range of motion of each joint (3 repetitions, outside of the game environment) and rehabilitative movements within games developed at Holland Bloorview that target anatomical movements (e.g. shoulder abduction/adduction, shoulder flexion/extension, elbow flexion/extension, lateral trunk lean, hip flexion/extension, knee flexion/extension, trunk flexion/extension)
Play each mini game until 10 repetitions are made regarding the game objective or 2-minutes of game play is reached.

One in 500 Canadians has cerebral palsy (CP), a lifelong condition affecting movement and function. Physical and occupational therapies greatly benefit children with CP but can be costly and difficult to access. Children, parents, and clinicians are interested in using movement-tracking video games for home-based hand/arm therapy. Yet, the technologies and evidence to support this approach are limited. We partnered with key stakeholders and an interdisciplinary team to co-create Bootle Blast. Bootle Blast tracks skeletal movements and interactions with real-life objects, engaging children in individualized play experiences rich in feedback, task specificity, and opportunities for goal-directed motor practice linked to meaningful activities.
To establish Bootle Blast's clinical effectiveness, a large-scale randomized controlled trial (RCT) is needed. Pilot RCTs provide important insights that position large-scale RCTs for success. As a result, the goal of this Pilot RCT is to test whether a mixed-reality video game intervention (i.e. Bootle Blast) can improve upper-limb function, activity, and participation in children and youth aged 6-17 years with hemiplegic cerebral palsy. The main questions it aims to answer are: (1) Is it feasible and acceptable for families to use Bootle Blast at home for 12 weeks? (2) Does the intervention show preliminary improvements in hand-arm motor outcomes compared to usual care?
Researchers will compare an immediate Bootle Blast intervention group to a waitlist comparison group that continues usual care for 12 weeks to see whether access to Bootle Blast leads to increased practice, greater engagement, and improved motor outcomes.
Participants will:
Complete three in-person assessments (baseline, 12 weeks, 24 weeks) with standardized motor and participation measures.
Be randomized to begin 12 weeks of home-based Bootle Blast immediately or after a 12-week waitlist period.
Use the Bootle Blast game at home for 15-20 minutes per day, 3-4 days per week, with all gameplay tracked automatically.
A subset of participants will also receive weekly 10-minute support calls from a monitoring coach.

Cerebral palsy (CP) affects approximately 1 in 500 Canadian children, and the majority experience hand and arm limitations that impact independence, participation in daily activities, and overall quality of life. Many children require ongoing clinical assessments and therapy delivered in specialized centres, creating significant burden related to travel, scheduling, and interruptions to school and work. Barriers such as geography, socioeconomic factors, and pandemic-related service disruptions have further limited equitable access to in-person care. Although virtual care has expanded rapidly and families have expressed strong interest in hybrid care models, there is currently no validated approach for conducting comprehensive virtual hand-arm assessments for children with CP. Virtual administration of standardized assessments, individualized goal-based evaluations, and naturalistic observation tools has not been systematically studied. Evidence is urgently needed to determine which assessments can be administered virtually, how acceptable and feasible they are for families, and whether virtual and in-person assessment methods produce equivalent results.