Desenvolvimento e validação de um exergame com realidade virtual para reabilitação em praticantes de vôlei: um estudo piloto

Abstract

Introduction: The return to sport phase is especially important in sports physiotherapy as it marks the athlete's return to the aspects, scenarios and symbols of their sport. The implementation of virtual reality in the form of an exergame as a means of mimicking the scenery and objects of the sport can help to familiarize the practitioner with their sport. Objective: To develop an exergame to be used with virtual reality equipment as a form of rehabilitation intervention in the return to sport phase for volleyball players, assessing the feasibility of the exergame. Methods: This is a product development and technical feasibility study. The exergame was developed in partnership with a research group from the Federal Institute of Education, Science and Technology of Ceará (IFCE). The sample consisted of volleyball players undergoing physiotherapeutic rehabilitation, recruited from the academic leagues of the Federal University of Ceará (UFC) and private patients. The exergame includes exercises that lead the patient to perform the gestures of the basic fundamentals (reception, serve, lift and block) of volleyball practice. The game has two forms of scoring: the main target (labeled yellow and in a round shape) and the secondary target (labeled green and in a rectangular shape). When either target is hit, the game displays visual feedback and updates the score in the game area. Recruitment took place at the UFC Physiotherapy Department and at private clinics in Fortaleza. The study included volleyball players of both sexes, over 18 years old, undergoing physiotherapy rehabilitation in the process of returning to participation and who did not have any pathologies that would contraindicate the use of virtual reality goggles. The System Usability Scale (SUS), iGroup Presence Questionnaire (IPQ) and a structured interview were applied. Results: The product was successfully developed and applied in the pilot. Twenty participants were collected, 12 women (60%) and 8 men (40%), most of whom practiced court volleyball, 17 practitioners (85%). The scores were presented as means (± standard deviation). The exergame was approved by the SUS questionnaire with an average of 80.87 (±10.10) points and not approved by the IPQ questionnaire with an average of 3.27 (±0.52) points. In the structured interview, the main positive points were: safety in performing the fundamentals of the game, proximity to reality, dynamic and fun. The main negative points were: delay, fidelity of movement, playability of the reception and short playing time. Conclusion: The product needs to be modified to improve it. The results indicate that the system is well used, but needs to be improved in terms of immersion in the virtual presence.