ReRide: Performing Lower Back Rehabilitation While Riding Your Motorbike in Traffic

What if a person with lower back problem could perform prescribed exercises while riding a motorbike in city traffic? In this paper we present our ReRide design experiment. The ReRide interactive sketch uses a belt with embedded flex sensor to obtain back posture data, and a microprocessor controlled mechanically moving display mounted on top of the bike's speedometer that alters the visibility of the speedometer to the rider indicating the correctness of back posture. Informed by embodied perception, the ReRide design emphasizes a rapid coupling between adjusting your back posture and the feedback presented thereby extending the bodily interaction with the motorbike already at play when riding to interacting with the self-monitoring technology. ReRide informs work in HCI investigating how, taking embodied interaction as the theoretical foundation, digital technology for self-monitoring can be designed to help integrate physical rehabilitation with everyday activities.