Abstract

In-person home-based rehabilitation and telerehabilitation can be as effective as clinic-based rehabilitation after total knee arthroplasty (TKA), but require heavy logistics and are highly dependent on human supervision. New technologies that allow independent home-based rehabilitation without constant human supervision may help solve this problem. This was a single-center, feasibility study comparing a digital biofeedback system that meets these needs against conventional in-person home-based rehabilitation after TKA over an 8-week program. Primary outcome was the change in the Timed Up and Go score between the end of the program and baseline. Fifty-nine patients completed the study (30 experimental group; 29 conventional rehabilitation). The study demonstrated a superiority of the experimental group for all outcomes. Adverse events were similar in both groups. This is the first study to demonstrate that a digital rehabilitation solution can achieve better outcomes than conventional in-person rehabilitation, while less demanding in terms of human resources.

Highlights

  • total knee arthroplasty (TKA) is associated with significant pain relief, functional improvements and an increase in the quality of life[3,4,5]

  • In addition, other studies published on rehabilitation after TKA12,13,38, on home versus clinic-based interventions[17] or tele-rehabilitation versus conventional rehabilitation[23,25,26]

  • In this study, the intervention time (10 sessions over 2 weeks) was too short to allow the detection of differences between groups, and treatment intensity was inferior to current recommendations[10,11]

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Summary

Introduction

TKA is associated with significant pain relief, functional improvements and an increase in the quality of life[3,4,5]. Physical rehabilitation improves results after TKA6, but the provision of these services varies widely in content and duration[7,8]. In the current context of increasing demand and a pressing need to contain expenditure[9], ensuring access to effective rehabilitation while minimizing costs is both a priority and a challenge. Home and clinic-based rehabilitation protocols have generated similar improvements[14,15,16,17,18,19]. This is in line with the recent trends in healthcare delivery, towards home-based care[20] aiming to improve cost-effectiveness

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