Wearable Technology to Facilitate Telerehabilitation for Service Members and Veterans with Lower Limb Loss — ICMM WCMM 2022
Gaunaurd I, Gailey R, Symsack A, Isaacson B, Pasquina P
Abstract submitted to 44th ICMM World Congress on Military Medicine 2022
Service Members (SM) and Veterans with lower limb amputation (LLA) are at a high risk for developing secondary co-morbidities such as joint pain, osteoarthritis, chronic low back pain, and cardiovascular disease. To mitigate these secondary comorbidities, optimize long-term function, and increase quality of life, effective rehabilitation and innovative lifelong care is essential. Telerehabilitation has recently demonstrated to be a useful method of healthcare delivery, particularly benefitting individuals with physical limitations who are unable to attend outpatient physical therapy, such as patients following LLA. Wearable technology, such as mobile sensors, has the potential to augment current telerehabilitation practice and improve home walking and exercise compliance for those with LLA. Therefore, could this technology be used to provide “booster” prosthetic training to improve or reinforce current mobility and prosthetic use, promote an active, healthy lifestyles and mitigate adverse secondary comorbidities? To address this question, the Department of Defense (DoD) and Veterans supported the development of a program through the Joint Incentive Fund called the Mobile Device Outcomes-based Rehabilitation Program (MDORP). The MDORP is a comprehensive mobile rehabilitation program that is clinician-guided and incorporates the use of a mobile sensor system called the Rehabilitative Lower Limb Orthopedic Assistive Device (ReLOAD). The ReLOAD system provides: (1) assessment of walking quality at home and in the community for people with LLA, (2) real-time auditory feedback to correct the most prominent gait deviations, and (3) automatic prescription of home exercises that target balance and strength impairments related to their most prominent gait deviation. The primary objective of the study was to determine if the 8-week MDORP improved strength, mobility, and gait quality in SMs and Veterans with LLA.