JMIR Rehabilitation and Assistive Technologies

BACKGROUND: Chronic pain is a widespread global health problem. Interdisciplinary multimodal pain treatment (IMPT) is a treatment option for people with chronic pain. Virtual reality (VR) could be used to broaden IMPT programs. However, despite the advantages of VR, it is rarely used in daily clinical practice. OBJECTIVE: This research aimed to explore how, when, and with whom VR can be used meaningfully during IMPT, either as an addition or substitution as a component of IMPT...

BACKGROUND: Individuals who have acquired communication disorders often struggle to transfer the skills they learn during therapy sessions to real-life situations. Immersive virtual reality (VR) technology has the potential to create realistic communication environments that can be used both in clinical settings and for practice at home by individuals with communication disorders. OBJECTIVE: This research aims to enhance our understanding of the acceptance, usefulness, and usability of a VR application (SIM:Kitchen), designed for communication rehabilitation...

BACKGROUND: Speech intelligibility and speech comprehension for dysarthric speech has attracted much attention recently. Dysarthria is characterized by irregularities in the speed, strength, pitch, breath control, range, steadiness, and accuracy of muscle movements required for articulatory aspects of speech production. OBJECTIVE: This study examined the contributions made by other studies involved in dysarthric speech comprehension. We focused on the modes of meaning extraction used in generalizing speaker-listener underpinnings in light of semantic ontology extraction as a desired technique, applied method types, speech representations used, and databases sourced from...

BACKGROUND: Wheelchair users with a spinal cord injury (SCI) are at a high risk for developing pressure injuries (PIs). Performing weight shifts is a primary method of pressure management for PI prevention; however, individuals with SCI may lack confidence in their abilities to perform adequate pressure relief due to their lack of sensation. Real-time seat interface pressure mapping feedback may provide partial substitution for sensory feedback such that an individual's confidence is improved...

BACKGROUND: Pulmonary rehabilitation is a vital component of comprehensive care for patients with respiratory conditions, such as lung cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and asthma, and those recovering from respiratory diseases like COVID-19. It aims to enhance patients' functional ability and quality of life, and reduce symptoms, such as stress, anxiety, and chronic pain. Virtual reality is a novel technology that offers new opportunities for customized implementation and self-control of pulmonary rehabilitation through patient engagement...

BACKGROUND: Low back pain is a common health problem globally. Based on the duration of pain, it is classified as acute, subacute, or chronic low back pain. Different treatment strategies are available to reduce chronic low back pain. Virtual reality (VR) is a novel approach in back pain rehabilitation. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to compare the effects of VR games on chronic low back pain. METHODS: This quasi-experimental study was conducted among 40 patients with chronic low back pain...

BACKGROUND: The Box and Block Test (BBT) measures unilateral gross manual dexterity and is widely used in clinical settings with a wide range of populations, including older people and clients with neurological disorders. OBJECTIVE: In this study, we present a newly developed digitized version of the BBT, called the digital BBT (dBBT). The physical design is similar to the original BBT, but the dBBT contains digital electronics that automate the test procedure, timing, and score measurement...

BACKGROUND: World Health Organization claimed that measuring outcomes is necessary to understand the benefits of assistive technology and create evidence-based policies and systems to ensure universal access to it. Specifically, in clinical practice, there is an increasing need for standardized methods to track individual assistive technology (AT) interventions using outcome assessment. OBJECTIVE: This review has been undertaken to provide an overview of available outcome measures that can be used at the follow-up stage of any AT interventions and integrated into the daily clinical or service practice...

BACKGROUND: Telerehabilitation could benefit a large population by increasing adherence to rehabilitation protocols. OBJECTIVE: Our objective was to review and discuss the use of cost-utility approaches in economic evaluations of telerehabilitation interventions. METHODS: A review of the literature on PubMed, Scopus, Centres for Review and Dissemination databases (including the HTA database, the Database of Abstracts of Reviews of Effects, and the NHS Economic Evaluation Database), Cochrane Library, and ClinicalTrials...

BACKGROUND: Upper limb (UL) recovery after stroke is strongly dependent upon rehabilitation dose. Rehabilitation technologies present pragmatic solutions to dose enhancement, complementing therapeutic activity within conventional rehabilitation, connecting clinicians with patients remotely, and empowering patients to drive their own recovery. To date, rehabilitation technologies have been poorly adopted. Understanding the barriers to adoption may shape strategies to enhance technology use and therefore increase rehabilitation dose, thus optimizing recovery potential...

BACKGROUND: The field of rehabilitation has seen a recent rise in technologies to support shared decision-making (SDM). Usability testing during the design process of SDM technologies is needed to optimize adoption and realize potential benefits. There is variability in how usability is defined and measured. Given the complexity of usability, a thorough examination of the methodologies used to measure usability to develop the SDM technologies used in rehabilitation care is needed. OBJECTIVE: This scoping review aims to answer the following research questions: which methods and measures have been used to produce knowledge about the usability of rehabilitation technologies aimed at supporting SDM at the different phases of development and implementation? Which parameters of usability have been measured and reported? METHODS: This review followed the Arksey and O'Malley framework...

BACKGROUND: The World Health Organization and the European Commission predict increased use of health technologies in the future care for patients in Europe. Studies have shown that services based on telehealth, which includes components of education, as well as rehabilitation initiatives can support the self-management of individuals living with COPD. This raises an interest in how virtual and in-person interactions and roles can best be organized in a way that suits people living with COPD in relation to their treatment and rehabilitation...

BACKGROUND: Conservative scoliosis therapy in the form of assisted physiotherapeutic scoliosis exercises is supplemented by self-contained training at home, depending on the approach (eg, Schroth, the Scientific Exercises Approach to Scoliosis). Complex exercises, lack of awareness of the importance of training, and missing supervision by therapists often lead to uncertainty and reduced motivation, which in turn reduces the success of home-based therapy. Increasing digitalization in the health care sector offers opportunities to close this gap...

BACKGROUND: Video games are a popular sedentary activity among people with impaired mobility; however, active video game hardware typically lacks accessibility and customization options for individuals with mobility impairments. A touchpad video game system can elicit moderate physical activity in healthy adults; however, it is unclear if this system is usable by adults with impaired mobility. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to assess the usability of a touchpad video game controller system adapted for adults with impaired mobility...

BACKGROUND: Rehabilitation improves poststroke recovery with greater effect for many when applied intensively within enriched environments. The failure of health care providers to achieve minimum recommendations for rehabilitation motivated the development of a technology-enriched rehabilitation gym (TERG) that enables individuals under supervision to perform high-intensity self-managed exercises safely in an enriched environment. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to assess the feasibility of the TERG approach and gather preliminary evidence of its effect for future research...

BACKGROUND: Aging is closely associated with an increased prevalence of musculoskeletal (MSK) conditions. Digital MSK care interventions emerged to deliver timely and proper rehabilitation; however, older adults frequently face specific barriers and concerns with virtual care programs. OBJECTIVE: To investigate whether known barriers and concerns of older adults impacted their participation in or engagement with a digital care program (DCP), or the observed clinical outcomes, in comparison with younger individuals...

BACKGROUND: Owing to demographic trends and increasing health care costs, quick discharge with geriatric rehabilitation at home is advised and recommended for older adults. Telerehabilitation has been identified as a promising tool to support rehabilitation at home. However, there is insufficient knowledge about how to implement a validated home telerehabilitation system in other contexts. One of the major challenges for rehabilitation professionals is transitioning to a blended work process in which human coaching is supplemented via digital care...

BACKGROUND: Despite a surge in health information and communication technology (ICT), there is little evidence of lowered cost or increased quality of care. ICT may support patients, health care providers, and other stakeholders through complex rehabilitation trajectories by offering digital platforms for collaboration, shared decision-making, and safe storage of data. Yet, the questions on how ICT can become a useful tool and how the complex intersection between producers and users of ICT should be solved are challenging...

BACKGROUND: Osteoarthritis is a major public health concern. Despite existing evidence-based treatment options, the health care situation remains unsatisfactory. Digital care options, especially when combined with in-person sessions, seem to be promising. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to investigate the needs, preconditions, barriers, and facilitators of blended physical therapy for osteoarthritis. METHODS: This Delphi study consisted of interviews, an online questionnaire, and focus groups...

BACKGROUND: In Canada, approximately 86,000 people live with spinal cord injury (SCI), and there are an estimated 3675 new cases of traumatic or nontraumatic etiology per year. Most people with SCI will experience secondary health complications, such as urinary and bowel issues, pain syndrome, pressure ulcers, and psychological disorders, resulting in severe chronic multimorbidity. Moreover, people with SCI may face barriers in accessing health care services, such as primary care physicians' expert knowledge regarding secondary complications related to SCI...