Telerehabilitation: 7 questions and answers

Although no one doubts that one of the main objectives of innovations related to digital health is to offer more personalized and effective treatments to improve the quality of life of patients, there are many questions about these advances.

Telerehabilitation is no exception: there is much disinformation about its effectiveness in the field of digital rehabilitation. Here are some of the most frequently asked questions.

What is the main difference with face-to-face rehabilitation?

Telerehabilitation offers patients the possibility of following physiotherapy treatments remotely, without the need to travel to the medical center, and thanks to the use of a digital platform.

Although the most comfortable and usual thing is for patients to carry out telerehabilitation sessions from home, most of the solutions allow their use from anywhere and at any time.

From the point of view of the physiotherapist or rehabilitation doctor, telerehabilitation allows prescribing personalized therapeutic exercises to the condition of each patient, monitoring the progress of the therapy, and adapting the rehabilitation treatment based on their needs.

What are the main benefits of telerehabilitation?

One of the main benefits is that it makes it easier for people with mobility difficulties to follow their rehabilitation therapy remotely, in addition to physical therapy sessions or completely online.

This comfort and accessibility increase adherence to treatment, which is one of the main problems of face-to-face rehabilitation processes: 51.6% of patients are not adherent to their therapy (according to the National Analysis of Adherence to Treatment of Pathologies Chronicles prepared by the OAT Group).

As a consequence of this greater adherence, the recovery time is also reduced and the satisfaction of the patients is increased, who feel they are the protagonists of their recovery and are calm thanks to the supervision of the professional.

Is any equipment necessary to carry out telerehabilitation?

Most telerehabilitation platforms are online services and the only thing that patients need to continue their rehabilitation therapy is a device with a screen (a smartphone, a tablet, or laptop) and an internet connection.

Additionally, telerehabilitation platforms such as ReHub by DyCare, which uses advanced wearable sensors can be added to have more precise monitoring. These kinds of sensors add to the process a greater control and precision, not only on the correct execution of the exercises but also the monitoring with objective data and the personalization of the therapy, taking a step further in the standardization of the treatments.

Is telerehabilitation safe for the elderly?

Although the answer to this question will depend on the specific operation of each telerehabilitation platform and its usability, in general, it is suitable for all types of audiences.

The objective of these platforms is that they are useful for the maximum type of people and rehabilitation therapies. Most are usually designed with a good easy to use interface, also suitable for older people and those who are not very skilled with technology. In our case, the REHAPT and REHIP clinical studies have shown that our telerehabilitation platform, ReHub, is safe and effective with older people up to 80 years of age with excellent results in terms of satisfaction and adherence to treatment.

In addition, beyond facilitating contact with the physiotherapist or rehabilitation doctor to resolve doubts at any time, these digital solutions can add a virtual assistant that accompanies and guides the patient in performing the exercises.

What is the role of the rehabilitation physician in telerehabilitation therapy? And the physiotherapist?

As in traditional rehabilitation treatments, the rehabilitation physician is the one who establishes the diagnosis and the objectives of the therapeutic plan. The possibility of being able to consult the patient's condition at any time allows you to intervene quickly in case of need.

Depending on the objectives, the physiotherapist establishes the guidelines for the treatments, prescribes personalized exercises, and is in charge of monitoring the patient remotely.

What pathologies can be treated with telerehabilitation?

Its use is intended for patients with diagnoses of all kinds, although the most frequently treated pathologies are those of a musculoskeletal nature (for example, tendonitis, tenosynovitis, carpal tunnel syndrome, epicondylitis, etc.)

It is also especially useful for recoveries after surgery, avoiding displacement and allowing patients to start rehabilitation as soon as possible to reduce pain.

What is not telerehabilitation?

Another way to understand telerehabilitation is to be clear about what it's not. Thus, we must avoid simple definitions of telerehabilitation that only refer to video tutorials or video calls.

In telerehabilitation, videos are only one part. Although clinical results can obviously also be achieved with traditional face-to-face physiotherapy, the contribution of technology is that you can measure those results with better precision because they give you qualitative and quantitative data, offering greater control over the entire rehabilitation process.

To answer more questions about digital rehabilitation technology, we invite you to read our frequently asked questions page. If you're interested in discovering first-hand a telerehabilitation solution, don't hesitate to request a free demo.