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Telerehabilitation mediated physiotherapy assessment of ankle disorders
Author(s) -
Russell Trevor G.,
Blumke Robert,
Richardson Bradley,
Truter Piers
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
physiotherapy research international
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.509
H-Index - 49
eISSN - 1471-2865
pISSN - 1358-2267
DOI - 10.1002/pri.471
Subject(s) - telerehabilitation , ankle , rehabilitation , physical therapy , physical medicine and rehabilitation , medicine , reliability (semiconductor) , telemedicine , health care , power (physics) , physics , pathology , quantum mechanics , economics , economic growth
Background and Purpose. Musculoskeletal injuries are the most common source of chronic pain and disability. The ankle joint is the most common of these injuries and without adequate rehabilitation function can be severely impaired. Access to physiotherapy rehabilitation services can be limited due to geographical remoteness and a shortage of services in rural and remote areas. Telerehabilitation is a potential solution to bridge this service delivery gap. The aim of this study was to determine the criterion validity and reliability of conducting a remote musculoskeletal assessment of the ankle joint complex using telerehabilitation technologies compared with a face‐to‐face assessment. Methods. This study utilized a repeated measures design to assess 15 subjects (mean age 24.5, SD 10.8 years) presenting with ankle pain. Conventional face‐to‐face assessments were compared with assessments performed via a telerehabilitation system. Results. A similar agreement of 93.3% in patho‐anatomical diagnosis and an 80% exact agreement (χ 2 = 4.267; p < 0.04) in primary systems diagnosis was found between face‐to‐face and telerehabilitation assessments. Clinical observations were found to have very strong agreement (k = 0.92) for categorical data and significant agreement (93.3% agreement; χ 2 = 234.4; p < 0.001) for binary data. A high level of inter‐ and intrarater reliability was found for the telerehabilitation assessments. Conclusions. This study demonstrates the criterion validity and reliability of remote musculoskeletal assessments of the ankle joint complex using telerehabilitation. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.