eJamar and Exergames as Support for Hand Rehabilitation: Four Cases of Study

Abstract

Hand and wrist rehabilitation is essential for restoring function in patients affected by neurological, traumatic, or degenerative conditions. In recent years, rehabilitation strategies incorporating exergames and specialized controllers have emerged as supportive tools to enhance conventional therapies. This study presents the results of a case series involving four female patients, aiming to explore the effects of a combined treatment protocol that integrates conventional hand rehabilitation with the use of the eJamar game controller and three exergames: Peter Jumper, Andromeda, and KARS. The participants presented hand and wrist impairments due to arthritis, arthrosis, or fractures. Each patient underwent a three-week intervention consisting of 15 one-hour sessions (five per week). Functional assessments were conducted before and after the intervention using several tools: range of motion, hand grip strength, Visual Analog Scale, Medical Research Council Scale for hand, a Nine-Hole Peg Test based, and the Duruöz Hand Index questionnaire. All participants showed general improvement in the measured parameters. Major improvement was observed particularly in grip strength and range of motion, especially in pronation, supination, and wrist deviation. One patient also reported a marked reduction in hand pain. Despite the small and heterogeneous sample, the results suggest a positive impact of the eJamar system on the hand motor function based on the evaluated metrics. These findings support the potential of combined therapy to improve rehabilitation outcomes. A follow-up study involving a larger sample and a control group is planned to further validate these preliminary findings.