Telerehabilitation is an emerging field of telemedicine. The concept is simple: supervise and deliver rehabilitation services over a telecommunications platform, such as the Internet. This includes all kinds of rehabiltiation ranging from speech to physical rehab.
Lots of examples of non-physical telerehabilitation systems exist. Here’s a sample:
- Queensland telerehabilitation project (speech, see below)
- Easterseals telerehabilitation project (observation, training)
- Alberta telerehab center (observation, training)
Several scientific journals have also recently emerged discussing the state of telerehabilitation including the International Journal of Telerehabilitation.
Hometelemed.com’s ReJoyce workstation is an example of a physical rehabilitation device.
Whereas many types of telemedicine don’t require a patient to have any equipment beyond a computer and camera, physical telerehabilitation usually requires exercise or rehabilitation equipment in a patients’ home. Rehab devices are conventionally bulky and expensive, which prohibit hospitals and clinics from sending them home with patients.
The ReJoyce telerehabilitation workstation is an example of one of the first devices designed to be used in the clinic and at home, and is inexpensive enough to make telerehabilitation profitable. Many more telerehabilitation devices are in various stages of experimental development around the world including the following:
- At-home constraint-induced therapy from CABRR
- Queensland telerehabilitation project (physical assessments, etc.)
- Chicago University Project (upper extremity)
Many articles have discussed the potential of telerehab. Here are some interesting ones from the last few years:
- Journal of Rehabilitative Research & Development
- Therapy Times (an interesting article, although a little out of date)
- A French telerehab study for wheelchair usage