Introduction
Physical rehabilitation is generally perceived as a face-to-face interaction between
therapist and patient. However, thanks to technology developments, this picture has
been changed. The massive innovation of information and communication technologies
(ICTs) has brought a revolution to the view of health, people, and work.[1] Especially, the application of virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) has
given an important contribution to health. Lastly, a growing number of studies have
shown important implications of the use of ICTs, VR, and AR for treating several disorders
and promotion of healthy lifestyles or well-being. Initially, most of these studies
have focused on treating anxiety disorders,[1] phobias (e.g., specific phobias, social phobia, and agoraphobia),[2] posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD),[3] attention deficit disorder,[4] eating disorder,[5] the reduction in stress,[6] and posttraumatic stress disorders in patients with limbs amputation[7] among others. In all these studies, the use of these ICTs has supported doctors
and researchers to reach the best results for patients. Thanks to the technological
advances, it is possible to reproduce virtual environment where people can move as
they are in the real world or having some mobile applications which can enlarge the
world around us and facing specific phobia. But for professionals, it is not always
an easy work because the use of ICTs usually implies that psychologists have to open
their mind and cowork with engineers and other professionals who have different backgrounds.
Selected Papers
Five papers were selected, after a double-blind peer review process, presented at
the REHAB-Workshop, celebrated in Popayán-Colombia.[8] Next, there is a brief description of the different papers:
A Systematic Review of the Effectiveness of Telerehabilitation Interventions in the
Elderly
Velayati et al[9] have done a review of the effectiveness of telerehabilitation interventions in the
elderly. Chronic health conditions of the elderly and mobility limitations usually
affect providing them with traditional rehabilitation services, in that way, telerehabilitation
can be a good option for delivering healthcare services to this group of patients.
The results obtained indicated that a wide range of simple and complex telerehabilitation
interventions were used and compared with traditional rehabilitation methods in the
elderly. While telerehabilitation interventions were found to be more effective than
traditional approaches in improving some outcomes, no significant difference was found
between these two methods in improving many other outcomes. Obviously, the effectiveness
of telerehabilitation might be related to various factors, such as the type of telerehabilitation
system, ease of use, and motivation for using the technology. However, it seems that
evidence for the effectiveness of telerehabilitation is quite limited.
Design of a Low-Cost, Wearable Device for Kinematic Analysis in Physical Therapy Settings
The findings of this article by Hua et al[10] establish the value of providing physical therapy patients with at-home kinematic
analysis. Despite the amount of knowledge generally needed to interpret kinematic
data, participants were able to understand kinematic data and its potential value
as a virtual coach. These findings can be used as a guide toward developing wearable
devices in physical therapy settings and facilitating information to users in a simple
manner. This manuscript is a part of a larger study that also explored the validity
of the device and classifying exercises using kinematic data from the device. The
device allows researchers to collect new metrics of home exercise that was previously
difficult to obtain such as quality and quantity of exercise.
Usability Evaluation of a Distributed User Interface Application for Visuomotor Organization
Assessment
The article by Cuerda et al[11] describes the development and evaluation of a smart tool to assist therapists in
the assessment of acquired brain injury. The tool is a digitalization of the subtest
pegboard construction inside the traditional Loewenstein Occupational Therapy Cognitive
Assessment (LOTCA) battery. This application allows therapists to evaluate the acquired
brain injury. This application allows the patient to perform the test on a touch screen,
while the therapist can observe the results of the test in real time on a separated
monitor, instead of using traditional methodologies based on physical elements.
Health-Enabling Technologies for Telerehabilitation of the Shoulder: A Feasibility
and User Acceptance Study
The article by Steiner et al[12] describes the development of a telerehabilitation system “acronym blinded”-P2 in
close cooperation with physical therapists. It provides automated real-time feedback,
as well as time-delayed feedback, from physical therapists. In contrast to traditional
unsupervised home exercise programs, “acronym blinded”-P2 enables patients to continue
their rehabilitation exercises with tele therapeutic support. The results of this
study have shown that health-enabling technology supported home-based exercise programs
are feasible.
Advantages and Limitations of Leap Motion from a Developers, Physical Therapists,
and Patients Perspective
Gamboa et al[13] have identified the advantages and limitations of using leap motion (LM) for physical
rehabilitation exergames (PREGs). They have conducted a qualitative study including
the perspectives of a group of developers, physical therapy experts, and patients.
Their study could be used as guidelines for developers and therapists during the development
and use of PREGs targeted at hands and fingers, guiding the decisionmaking during
feasibility analysis and design stages.
Conclusion
ICTs are important issue in the rehabilitation process. However, their implementation
is not an easy task; it requires understanding of different scenarios to provide the
better technology. Within this focus theme, a set of important papers have been presented,
analyzing and discussing the main advantages of ICT and rehabilitation, and depicting
how solutions in different environments have been implemented in a successful manner.
