Abstract
Background: Musculoskeletal physiotherapy provides conservative management for a range of conditions. Currently, there is a lack of engagement with exercise programs because of the lack of supervision and low self-efficacy. The use of mobile health (mHealth) interventions could be a possible solution to this problem, helping promote self-management at home. However, there is little evidence for musculoskeletal physiotherapy on the most effective forms of mHealth.
Objective: The aim of this review is to investigate the literature focusing on the use of mHealth in musculoskeletal physiotherapy and summarize the evidence.
Methods:
A scoping review of 6 peer-reviewed databases was conducted in March 2021. No date limits were applied, and only articles written in the English language were selected. A reviewer screened all the articles, followed by 2 additional researchers screening a random sample before data extraction.
Results: Of the 1393 studies, 28 (2.01%) were identified. Intervention characteristics comprised stretching and strengthening exercises, primarily for degenerative joint pain and spinal conditions (5/28, 18%). The most reported use of mHealth included telephone and videoconferencing calls to provide a home exercise program or being used as an adjunct to physiotherapy musculoskeletal assessment (14/28, 50%). Although patient satisfaction with mHealth was reported to be high, reasons for disengagement included a lack of high-quality information and poor internet speeds. Barriers to clinical uptake included insufficient training with the intervention and a lack of time to become familiar.
Conclusions: mHealth has some benefits regarding treatment adherence and can potentially be as effective as normal physiotherapy care while being more cost-effective. The current use of mHealth is most effective when ongoing feedback from a health care professional is available.
Objective: The aim of this review is to investigate the literature focusing on the use of mHealth in musculoskeletal physiotherapy and summarize the evidence.
Methods:
A scoping review of 6 peer-reviewed databases was conducted in March 2021. No date limits were applied, and only articles written in the English language were selected. A reviewer screened all the articles, followed by 2 additional researchers screening a random sample before data extraction.
Results: Of the 1393 studies, 28 (2.01%) were identified. Intervention characteristics comprised stretching and strengthening exercises, primarily for degenerative joint pain and spinal conditions (5/28, 18%). The most reported use of mHealth included telephone and videoconferencing calls to provide a home exercise program or being used as an adjunct to physiotherapy musculoskeletal assessment (14/28, 50%). Although patient satisfaction with mHealth was reported to be high, reasons for disengagement included a lack of high-quality information and poor internet speeds. Barriers to clinical uptake included insufficient training with the intervention and a lack of time to become familiar.
Conclusions: mHealth has some benefits regarding treatment adherence and can potentially be as effective as normal physiotherapy care while being more cost-effective. The current use of mHealth is most effective when ongoing feedback from a health care professional is available.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | e33609 |
| Pages (from-to) | 1-20 |
| Number of pages | 20 |
| Journal | JMIR Rehabilitation and Assistive Technologies |
| Volume | 9 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published (in print/issue) - 11 Mar 2022 |
Bibliographical note
This review was undertaken as part of a PhD study at Ulster University and funded by the Department for Economy Study. Invest Northern Ireland is acknowledged for partially supporting this research under the Competence Centre Program Grant RD0513853 by the Connected Health Innovation Centre.Funding Information:
The authors would like to thank Kelly McCoo for her support and guidance in conducting the database searches and the internal peer reviewers for their time and comments on the review. This review was undertaken as part of a PhD study at Ulster University and funded by the Department for Economy Study. Invest Northern Ireland is acknowledged for partially supporting this research under the Competence Centre Program Grant RD0513853 by the Connected Health Innovation Centre. The funders had no role in the design, conduct, or reporting of this study.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 JMIR Publications Inc. All right reserved.
©Jonathon M R Agnew, Catherine E Hanratty, Joseph G McVeigh, Chris Nugent, Daniel P Kerr. Originally published in JMIR Rehabilitation and Assistive Technology (https://rehab.jmir.org), 11.03.2022.
Keywords
- physiotherapy
- musculoskeletal
- mHealth
- rehabilitation
- scoping review
- mobile phone