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\nAlmost 800,000 strokes happen each year in the United States.\u00a0A product created in a Clemson lab shows great promise in helping stroke victims recover use of their arms.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
N<\/span>ancy Bunch says that when she suffered a stroke, she lost the ability to lift one of her arms.
\nThe simplest of tasks, such as picking up a pencil, were but a memory. Then a therapist asked Bunch to try using a new video game, \u201cDuck Duck Punch,\u201d as part of her recovery.
\n\u201cMy first thought,\u201d says Bunch, \u201cwas, \u2018I can\u2019t even move my arm. How can I do that?\u2019\u201d But then she remembered the promise she made to herself when she went into the rehab hospital. \u201cI decided at that point,\u201d she says, \u201cI will not say \u2018no.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\nShe punched virtual rubber ducks off the screen to relearn how to extend her arm. Within a week, she was once again able to pick up a pencil. Just over a year later, Bunch drove herself to the grocery store.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
\u201cThis really needs to be in hospitals all around the country,\u201d Bunch says. \u201cFor me, it represented hope \u2014 hope for the hopeless. I am so thankful.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>
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Austen Hayes \u201911 and Larry Hodges demonstrate Duck Duck Punch in a Clemson lab.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/li><\/ul><\/div><\/div>
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\n\u201cDuck Duck Punch\u201d is the product of Recovr, a company that started as a research project in Clemson\u2019s College of Engineering and Science and at the Medical University of South Carolina. The company\u2019s founders, Austen Hayes \u201911 and Larry Hodges, joined together in a Clemson lab in July to offer the general public its first look at their stroke-recovery game. They say it could be only a matter of months before the game becomes a part of patient therapy nationwide.
\nRecovr has raised seed capital from Concepts to Companies and has received 510(k) clearance from the Food and Drug Administration, which allows Recovr to market the game as a medical device.<\/p>\n\n\u201cWe\u2019re on the cusp of something big,\u201d says Hayes, the company\u2019s CEO. \u201cThere is a $17 billion stroke rehabilitation market in the U.S. alone. The need for this kind of therapy is expected to more than double by 2030, according to the National Stroke Association.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Almost 800,000 strokes happen each year in the United States. More than seven million survivors live with long-term stroke disability, the vast majority suffering arm-movement impairment.
\n\u201cDuck Duck Punch\u201d is in trials in two clinics and two hospitals across South Carolina. Tests have shown as much as 15 percent improvement in arm mobility in one week of using the game.
\nWith \u201cDuck Duck Punch,\u201d therapy becomes a game that patients want to play instead of a chore that needs to be done. Patients stand or sit in front of a TV or computer, and rubber ducks go by on the screen like a carnival game. When patients reach out, a virtual arm on the screen knocks down the ducks. Patients earn points for each duck they knock down. The game can be played in hospitals and clinics, or sent home with the patient.
\n\u201cThat\u2019s key,\u201d Hayes says. \u201cYou have to follow up with daily therapy in the home. On average,\u00a0pilot participants in the home are using this 49 minutes a day. It has just blown away therapists that patients are following up on their own between therapy sessions.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/h3>\n<\/div><\/section><\/div>
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\nBunch, of Eutawville, South Carolina, says that she doesn\u2019t usually consider herself competitive, but the spirit rose in her when she played \u201cDuck Duck Punch.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s like mind over matter,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s amazing what your brain can do even though you don\u2019t think you can do it.\u201d
\nA Microsoft Kinect tracks patient movements, so no controller is needed. Patients can pick the skin tone of their virtual arm \u2014 many prefer green \u2014 and the game\u2019s theme, Hodges said. \u201cWe\u2019ve got Wild West Ducks, we\u2019ve got Seascape Ducks, and we have everybody\u2019s favorite, which is Ducks in Space,\u201d he says. The next generation, currently in development, features Cows in Space.
\nThe game can also be customized according to patient ability. In the setup, patients extend their arms as far as they can. The game makes up the difference so that patients with very limited motion can still play.
\nTherapists can use \u201cDuck Duck Punch\u201d to track patients\u2019 progress and provide analytic data, which is important under the Affordable Care Act, Hodges says.
\nHayes and Hodges have been working with Michelle Woodbury, an associate professor and director of the Upper Extremity Motor Function Lab at Medical University of South Carolina. \u201cEverything about the game was developed in conjunction with her,\u201d Hodges says. \u201cWe\u2019re the computer guys. She knows what stroke survivors really need to regain reuse of their arms.\u201d
\nThe origins of the game go back to 2011 when Hodges and Woodbury met at a MUSC conference that brought researchers together to look for possible collaborations. Woodbury told the group about her idea for a game that would encourage patients to do stroke-recovery exercises. Hodges knew that the technical know-how could be found at Clemson, where he is a professor in the\u00a0Human-Centered Computing Division\u00a0in the\u00a0School of Computing.
\nHodges told Hayes, then a Ph.D. student, about the game idea. They began work on a prototype and a year later, it took second place out of more than 500 entries at the 2012 Microsoft Imagine Cup in Sydney, Australia.
\nThe team formed Recovr in 2013 to help expand \u201cDuck Duck Punch.\u201d Hayes set aside his Ph.D. plans to become the company\u2019s full-time CEO.<\/p>\n\n\u201cI knew that if it just stayed in the research lab, it was going to be awesome but for a limited number of people,\u201d Hayes says. \u201cWe wanted to pull it out and see it help more people in more locations. I really wanted to do well and do good at the same. To make an impact on someone\u2019s daily life \u2014 that\u2019s really rewarding for me.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Hodges serves as chief operating officer. Kevin Jett, scheduled to graduate in December 2015 with a bachelor\u2019s degree in computer science from Clemson, is the company\u2019s software engineer.
\nRecovr is now one of two companies, both from Clemson, in the Concepts to Companies portfolio. The founders, John Warner and Brian McSharry, help turn academic ideas into commercial enterprises by investing capital and offering their business expertise.
\n\u201c\u2018Duck Duck Punch\u2019 is a great illustration of collaboration between Clemson University and Medical University of South Carolina,\u201d Warner says. \u201cIt shows that South Carolina has high quality intellectual capital. There is a huge need for this kind of product, and it\u2019s growing. We\u2019re expecting big things from Recovr.\u201d
\nEileen Kraemer, the C. Tycho Howle director of the School of Computing, says she is proud that Recovr\u2019s roots trace back to the school. [pullquote]\u201c\u2018Duck Duck Punch\u2019 could have a global impact on stroke survivors not only in the United States but around the world,\u201d she says. \u201cWe\u2019ve got some of the best, brightest and most inventive students and faculty members in the country.\u201d[\/pullquote]
\nAccording to Anand Gramopadhye, dean of the College of Engineering and Science, \u201cDuck Duck Punch\u201d is an excellent example of how \u201ctranslational research\u201d can take\u00a0projects from the lab to a patient\u2019s bedside.
\n\u201cWe\u2019re creating a new generation of entrepreneurial leaders,\u201d Gramopadhye says. \u201cThey are not only qualified to take jobs, but they are also prepared to create jobs. It\u2019s exciting to see Clemson students, alumni and faculty members put that into practice. The Recovr team has a bright future.\u201d
\nFor more about Duck Duck Punch and Recovr, you can contact Austen Hayes at<\/em>\u00a0<austen@recovrinc.com> or go to the company website at<\/em>\u00a0www.recovrinc.com<\/a>.<\/span>
\nPaul Alongi is a technical and feature writer for the College of Engineering and Science.<\/em>
\nListen to Clemson News Now student reporter Jackie Veliz’s story on Duck Duck Punch:<\/p>\n<\/h3>\n
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