Ted Talk Analysis: Physical Therapy is Boring: Play a Game Instead

Cosmin Mihaiu's Ted Talk, "Physical Therapy is Boring: Play a Game Instead", was filmed in March 2015 at TED2015. This Ted Talk interested me, because in August of 2014 I was in a car accident that required about six months of physical therapy. If the technology Mihaiu proposes in his Ted Talk was available when I was in therapy, it would have changed the way I recovered. 

Mihaiu's technology, MIRA Rehab, utilizes a Kinect camera & a laptop or computer to help patients. The Kinect technology allows patients to play games to help them do the exercises in a convenient way. The technology also allows for patients to do the exercises with the help of a physical therapist, tracking the movements on screen to see if they are aligning their bodies correctly. 

Mihaiu is demonstrating how he can use elbow flexion exercises to
raise the bumblebee in the interactive game. 

Mihaiu doing exercises side by side his therapist at home.

The audience of this Ted Talk was probably not informed on this topic before seeing the presentation, because it is a new technology. The physical audience was receptive, & when the camera panned through the crowd, faces looked engaged & impressed!

Mihaiu was an excellent public speaker. He has an accent, but he spoke slowly & with clarity so all his words were understood. His eye contact was superb, & he seemed calm & collected. This was probably because he was talking about something he knew a lot about, making him confident & relaxed in his presentation. The visual aids he incorporated were interesting & engaging, clarifying his invention. His participation in the therapy video games was extremely important for his speech, & the success of this part of the presentation is what made the overall Ted Talk great. In the future, I would have loved to see him go more in depth into his program, but I understand that he probably had a time limit because this was a shorter speech. 

On a personal note, I really wish this was developed & ready for access today. I did not always do my therapy at home, so if I would have had an interesting way to do my exercises, it would have been a game changer. All you need is a kinect system- about $120, & a computer and you can effectively do prescribed exercises. Mihaiu's MIRA Rehab will change the way people of all ages recover from injuries. 

http://www.ted.com/talks/cosmin_mihaiu_physical_therapy_is_boring_play_a_game_instead#t-170094