Telerehabilitation of patients with injuries of the elbow joint of the upper extremities

Abstract

The international orthopedic community aims to achieve the best possible outcome for patient care by modifying rehabilitation methods and using telemedicine technology. Therefore, the overarching theme of this paper is to acknowledge the gold standard in implementation of the telemedicine technology for rehabilitation of the patients with injuries of the elbow joint of the upper extremities. Currently not sufficiently studied sequential algorithm of movement activity on the injured upper extremity after immobilization, not studied physiological and pathophysiological response during rehabilitation. Consecutive patients were recruited over a two-year period. 67 subjects with upper extremity elbow joint injuries were enrolled in the study. Thirty-eight patients from the control group underwent traditional rehabilitation procedures for a 2-weeks period after completion of immobilization. 29 subjects were enrolled in the telerehabilitation group for a 2-weeks period after completion of immobilization and were trained with a set of exercises for home use. Home remote monitoring for the 29 test subjects included use of a device with 6-axis sensor, pulse-oximetry, temperature sensor, that was fixed to the injured forearm. During the execution of exercises data from device's sensors goes to the doctor and displayed as digital data and graphs. During the telemonitoring physician controls the adequacy of execution of each stage of rehabilitation exercises and has the ability to adjust the amplitude of movements in real time depending on the functional state of the limb and pain syndrome. Software allows monitoring the exercises time, the frequency of active movements of limb, the number of active movements, pulse. The orthopedic during telerehabilitation took significantly less time to consult patients than the traditional rehabilitation. Patient satisfaction was higher for the telerehabilitation than for the orthopedic traditional rehabilitation. Telerehabilitation is good alternative for providing access to specialty care for the growing number of patients with upper extremity elbow joint injuries.