Augmented Reality Rehabilitative and Exercise Games (ARREGs): A Systematic Review and Future Considerations

Augmented Reality (AR) and exergames have been trending areas of interest in healthcare spaces for rehabilitation and exercise. This work reviews 25 papers featuring AR rehabilitative/exercise games and paints a picture of the literature landscape. The included results span twelve years, with the oldest paper published in 2010 and the most recent work in 2022. More specifically, this work contributes a bank of representative ARREGs and a synthesis of measurement strategies for player perceptions of Augmented Reality Rehabilitative and Exercise Game (ARREG) experiences, the elements that comprise the exergame experience, the intended use cases of ARREGs, whether participants are actually representative users, the utilized devices and AR modalities, the measures used to capture rehabilitative success, and the measures used to capture participant perceptions. Informed by the literature body, our most significant contribution is nine considerations for future ARREG development.