Telerehabilitation as a Therapeutic Exercise Tool versus Face-to-Face Physiotherapy: A Systematic Review

Teresa Muñoz-Tomás Mª, Mario Burillo-Lafuente, Araceli Vicente-Parra, Concepción Sanz-Rubio Mª, Carmen Suarez-Serrano (), Yolanda Marcén-Román () and Ángeles Franco-Sierra Mª
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Teresa Muñoz-Tomás Mª: Physiotherapy Primary Care, 44002 Teruel, Spain
Mario Burillo-Lafuente: Physiotherapy Hospital San José, 44002 Teruel, Spain
Araceli Vicente-Parra: Physiotherapy Hospital Obispo Polanco, 44002 Teruel, Spain
Concepción Sanz-Rubio Mª: Physiotherapy Primary Care, Department of Nursing, Physiotherapy and Occupational Therapy, University of Zaragoza, 50009 Zaragoza, Spain
Carmen Suarez-Serrano: Department of Physiotherapy, University of Seville, 41009 Seville, Spain
Yolanda Marcén-Román: Department of Anatomy and Human Embryology, IIS Aragón, University of Zaragoza, 50009 Zaragoza, Spain
Ángeles Franco-Sierra Mª: Department of Nursing, Physiotherapy and Occupational Therapy, IIS Aragón, University of Zaragoza, 50009 Zaragoza, Spain

IJERPH, 2023, vol. 20, issue 5, 1-15

Abstract: Digital physiotherapy, often referred to as “Telerehabilitation”, consists of applying rehabilitation using telecommunication technologies. The objective is to evaluate the effectiveness of therapeutic exercise when it is telematically prescribed. Methods: We searched PubMed, Embase, Scopus, SportDiscus and PEDro (30 December 2022). The results were obtained by entering a combination of MeSH or Emtree terms with keywords related to telerehabilitation and exercise therapy. RCTs on patients over 18 years and two groups were included, one working with therapeutic exercise through telerehabilitation and one working with conventional physiotherapy group. Results: a total of 779 works were found. However, after applying the inclusion criteria, only 11 were selected. Telerehabilitation is most frequently used to treat musculoskeletal, cardiac and neurological pathologies. The preferred telerehabilitation tools are videoconferencing systems, telemonitoring and online platforms. Exercise programs ranged from 10 to 30 min and were similar in both intervention and control groups. In all the studies, results proved to be similar for telerehabilitation and face-to-face rehabilitation in both groups when measuring functionality, quality of life and satisfaction. Conclusion: this review generally concludes that intervention through telerehabilitation programs is as feasible and efficient as conventional physiotherapy in terms of functionality level and quality of life. In addition, telerehabilitation shows high levels of patients’ satisfaction and adherence, being values equivalent to traditional rehabilitation.

Keywords: telerehabilitation; exercise therapy; physiotherapy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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