None listed
Conditions
Brief summary
Objective: To investigate whether an App-based supplemental exercise program in orthopaedic rehabilitation will be feasible and acceptable to participants, increase activity levels and improve functional outcomes. Design: Single-centre, single-blind pilot randomised control trial Setting: Inpatient private general rehabilitation unit Participants: Twenty individuals admitted for orthopaedic rehabilitation over four week duration. Intervention: Participants were randomised to receive supplemental exercise via an App (PTPalTM) on a tablet device additional to usual care or usual care alone. Main Outcome Measures: Primary outcome measures were participant satisfaction with App-based supplemental exercise, total repetitions of each activity and time in supplemental exercise programs. Secondary measures were 10 Metre Walk Test (10MWT); 6 Minute Walk Test (6MWT); Timed Up and Go (TUG); Functional Independence Measure and length of stay assessed by a blinded assessor.
Interventions
Individuals admitted for orthopaedic rehabilitation randomised to either usual care orthopaedic program or to usual care with an App-based supplemental exercise program, delivered via an App downloaded to a tablet device (PTPal).
The intervention group receive supplementary exercise program designed by their treating therapist and uploaded to PTPal and accessed via a tablet device in addition to usual care. Participants allocated to the intervention group were provided with a tablet device for
Individuals admitted for orthopaedic rehabilitation randomised to either usual care orthopaedic program or to usual care with an App-based supplemental exercise program, delivered via an App downloaded to a tablet device (PTPal). The intervention group receive supplementary exercise program designed by their treating therapist and uploaded to PTPal and accessed via a tablet device in addition to usual care. Participants allocated to the intervention group were provided with a tablet device for the duration of their inpatient program. Both intervention and control group receive supplemental exercises but intervention group uses an app based program for delivery and monitoring of these exercises. Exercise programs for the intervention participants were individually designed by the treating therapist. PTPal is a care delivery App that allows clinicians and therapists to send participating individuals digital prescriptions of exercises, activities and surveys, directly to the a mobile or tablet device. Participants had a de-identified login created by the research team and an individualised exercise program was uploaded to a Royal Rehab Apple iPad Air 2 that was provided to the participants for the duration of their admission. The set programs for orthopaedic conditions were designed by the principal physiotherapy researcher in conjunction with the treating physiotherapy team. Exercise programs included the following exercise types; range of motion, stretching, strengthening and practice of everyday tasks e.g. walking or standing up. The time that participants logged onto their exercise account, repetitions undertaken and difficulties encountered were remotely monitored by the treating therapist and principal investigators. After allocation, the intervention participants received one session at the commencement of their program to learn to use the App and ongoing support to both groups was provided, as needed, to the participants by the research assistant.
Sponsors
Royal Rehab Hospital
Study design
Allocation
Randomised controlled trial
Intervention model
Parallel
Primary purpose
Treatment
Masking
Blinded (masking used) (Outcomes Assessor)
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
All
Age
18 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
No
Inclusion criteria
Participants were included if they were inpatients undergoing usual-care orthopaedic rehabilitation, aged over 18 years of age, able to consent, had been admitted with an orthopaedic diagnosis, and were willing to use or be educated on the use of the tablet device and had no medical contraindications to a supplemental exercise program. If the individual was unable to provide consent due to cognitive impairment defined as a Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE) score less than 24/30, they were not approached to take part in the study.
Exclusion criteria
Cognitive impairment medical contraindication to supplemental exercise program
Outcome results
None listed