At-home digital therapy program may be effective for scoliosis vs. conventional therapy
Key takeaways:
- A home-based digital therapy program for adolescents with scoliosis was effective vs. conventional in-person therapy.
- The remote program consisted of digitally supervised scoliosis-specific exercises.
Published results showed a home-based digital rehabilitation program consisting of scoliosis-specific exercises was associated with reduced Cobb angle for patients with adolescent idiopathic scoliosis compared with conventional therapy.
“Due to limited medical resources as well as geographic, time and financial constraints, mastering the [physiotherapeutic scoliosis-specific exercises] PSSE regimen under the traditional PSSE model can be challenging for patients with [adolescent idiopathic scoliosis],” Wangshu Yuan, MS, from the department of rehabilitation medicine at Peking Union Medical College Hospital in Beijing, China, and colleagues wrote in the study. “PSSE training, supported by a digital care system, may be an effective approach to address the current challenges.”
Yuan and colleagues performed a randomized clinical trial of 128 patients (mean age, 11.1 years) with adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS), defined by a Cobb angle of the primary curve of 10° or greater.
Yuan and colleagues randomly assigned 64 patients to view educational videos and perform supervised PSSEs at home under the guidance of a digital care platform, accessed with a smartphone, and 64 patients to a traditional rehabilitation regimen of three treatment sessions with a qualified physical therapist at a specialized clinic and unsupervised PSSEs at home.
According to the study, PSSEs included self-correction exercises and overcorrection exercises performed for 30 minutes per day, for at least 5 days per week, for 6 months.
Primary outcome measure was change in Cobb angle from baseline to 6-month follow-up. The 6-month follow-up rate was 100%, according to the study.
For the digital therapy cohort, mean Cobb angle improvement was 4.23° (95% CI, 6.08° to 2.39°) in the intention-to-treat analysis and 4.01° (95% CI, 5.68° to 2.35°) in the per-protocol analysis compared with the traditional therapy cohort at 6 months.
After adjusted covariate analysis, Yuan and colleagues found the mean Cobb angle improvement was 4.24° (95% CI, 6.09° to 2.38°) for the digital therapy cohort vs. the traditional therapy cohort at 6 months.
“Remote and home-based PSSE training support delivered using a digital care system was superior to the traditional PSSE model in improving the Cobb angle,” Yuan and colleagues wrote. “This mode of exercise may provide a more effective and convenient alternative for individuals with AIS.”
Collapse
Read more about