Background:
Patient adherence is a crucial determinant of the rehabilitation process. After injury or surgery, many patients are given specific exercises to conduct unsupervised on their own to aid their recovery. Evidence suggests that noncompliance with the prescribed exercise regime is associated with poor rehabilitation outcomes. OneStep technology is a smartphone application (App), which uses smartphone sensors to provide ongoing gait diagnostics.
Study Objectives:
1. To analyze gait-related parameters collected via the OneStep App in patients with lower extremity disability or chronic pain over a 4-week follow-up period during in-hospital physiotherapy sessions, self-exercises at home, and other daily activities,
2. To objectively assess the patients' adherence and compliance with the prescribed rehabilitation regime. For the purposes of this research, adherence refers to the quantity and frequency of completed home exercises, while compliance refers to the quality of meeting the physiotherapists' walking-related recommendations.
3. To assess gait parameters measured simultaneously on both feet, during standard walking-related tests, (performed under similar conditions on days 1, 14, 28, while using the OneStep App), for between and within-subject comparison.
4. To compare between patients' subjective self-reports on performed physiotherapy workouts at home, the physiotherapists' own subjective assessments on their patients' adherence and compliance, and the objective data collected using the OneStep App
Methods:
Fifty consecutive patients with lower-extremity disability or pain, will be using the One-Step App, downloaded to their personal smartphones, in parallel with the usual rehabilitation treatments, during a one-month period. The study participants will be asked to carry the smartphone with the preinstalled app on them at all times, specifically on their injured foot.
All participants will also be required to undertake standard walking tests at the study initiation day (day 1) and on days 14 and 28 under similar conditions for between and within-subject comparison. Only during these tests will the subjects be using two smartphones preinstalled with the OneStep App, one attached to each leg, for a more accurate gait symmetry assessment.
During these 3 sessions, the study participants, as well as their physiotherapists, will be asked to fill in the study questionnaires.
Hypothesis:
Data collected using the OneStep App will allow an accurate and informative follow-up on patients' adherence and compliance with the rehabilitation regime and assist the physiotherapists in improving the efficacy of the rehabilitation process.
