The Efficacy of Tele-Rehabilitation Program for Improving Upper Limb Function among Adults Following Elbow Fractures: A Pilot Study
Abstract
:1. Background
2. Methods
2.1. Participants
2.2. Study Tools and Protocol
2.2.1. Evaluation
- The Disabilities of Arm, Shoulder and Hand (DASH; [28]), a self-assessment functional questionnaire used following an upper extremity injury. The questionnaire includes 30 items concerning functioning and severity of the symptoms in the past week. The patient is asked to rate the difficulty level of performing 21 physical activities on a Likert scale (from 1 = no difficulty to 5 = unable to perform) and the influence of the physical injury on the social functioning (1 = not at all to 5 = extreme). The final score ranges from 0 to 100, with a higher score indicating poorer functioning and more severe symptoms. DASH has a high repeatability in subjects with elbow injuries (ICC = 0.92; [29]). It has also been found that the tool is sensitive to post-treatment status changes compared to the pretreatment condition [29].
- The Patient-Rated Elbow Evaluation (PREE; [30]), a self-assessment questionnaire following elbow injuries which evaluates the level of pain and level of function of the affected limb on a Likert scale between 0–10 (0 = no pain and no functional limitations to 10 = the highest pain or highest disability). The questionnaire has three parts: 5 questions are related to the level of pain; 11 questions regarding the ability to perform specific tasks with the elbow, e.g., combing the hair; and 4 questions related to usual daily life activities (dressing, eating, etc.). High scores reflect higher pain and disability. This questionnaire was translated from English to Hebrew as part of this study in a re-translation procedure and expert validation.
- Patient satisfaction questionnaire, about self-management of the home program, a self-completion questionnaire compiled by Dr. Debbie Rand from the Department of Occupational Therapy at Tel Aviv University and adapted for this study. The questionnaire consists of 7 questions. Four items used a Likert scale between 1 and 5 (1 = not at all and 5 = very much): satisfaction from the intervention, level of motivation evoked by the intervention, subjective motor improvement of the injured hand, and the duration of the practice. The other 3 items regarded the assistance needed to use the intervention at home (needs help all the time, occasionally needs help, or do not need help at all) [31].
- The System Usability Scale (SUS; [32]), a questionnaire filled out by the subjects in the tele-rehabilitation group, intended to examine the degree of convenience of using technological systems. This questionnaire consists of 10 statements on the Likert scale (1 = strongly disagrees to 5 = strongly agrees). The scoring is performed as follows: uneven items (1, 3, 5, 7, 9) are deducted by one point from the subject selection, and even items (2, 4, 6, 8, 10) subtract the subject choice from five. The sum of the items is multiplied by 2.5, and a score is obtained on a scale between 0 and 100. A higher score indicates a more positive opinion about the comfort of the system.
2.2.2. Intervention
2.3. Data Analysis
3. Results
4. Discussion
Supplementary Materials
Author Contributions
Funding
Institutional Review Board Statement
Informed Consent Statement
Data Availability Statement
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Tele-Rehabilitation Group (N = 9) | Control Group (N = 9) | p | |
---|---|---|---|
Age (years) | 33.0 (27.9) | 60.0 (37.0) | 0.185 ¥ |
Sex | 3 male; 6 female | 4 male; 5 female | 1.000 § |
Injured hand | 3 Right; 6 Left | 3 Right; 6 Left | 1.000 § |
Injured hand | 3 D; 6 ND | 3 D; 6 ND | 1.000 § |
Hand dominance | 7 Right; 2 Left | 8 Right; 1 Left | 1.000 § |
Fracture type | 4 Ol, 3 DH, 2 Arth | 4 Ol, 3 DH, 2RH, 1 Arth. | 0.469 § |
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Mayer, N.; Portnoy, S.; Palti, R.; Levanon, Y. The Efficacy of Tele-Rehabilitation Program for Improving Upper Limb Function among Adults Following Elbow Fractures: A Pilot Study. Appl. Sci. 2021, 11, 1708. https://doi.org/10.3390/app11041708
Mayer N, Portnoy S, Palti R, Levanon Y. The Efficacy of Tele-Rehabilitation Program for Improving Upper Limb Function among Adults Following Elbow Fractures: A Pilot Study. Applied Sciences. 2021; 11(4):1708. https://doi.org/10.3390/app11041708
Chicago/Turabian StyleMayer, Naomi, Sigal Portnoy, Ram Palti, and Yafa Levanon. 2021. "The Efficacy of Tele-Rehabilitation Program for Improving Upper Limb Function among Adults Following Elbow Fractures: A Pilot Study" Applied Sciences 11, no. 4: 1708. https://doi.org/10.3390/app11041708
APA StyleMayer, N., Portnoy, S., Palti, R., & Levanon, Y. (2021). The Efficacy of Tele-Rehabilitation Program for Improving Upper Limb Function among Adults Following Elbow Fractures: A Pilot Study. Applied Sciences, 11(4), 1708. https://doi.org/10.3390/app11041708