Postoperative Rehabilitation after Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction through Telerehabilitation with Artificial Intelligence Brace during COVID-19 Pandemic

• Published in: Journal of clinical medicine 2023-07, Vol.12 (14), p.4865
• Main Authors: Liao, Wei-Jen, Lee, Kun-Tsan, Chiang, Liang-Yu, Liang, Che-Han, Chen, Chao-Ping
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Artificial intelligence; Clinical medicine; Clinical outcomes; Control; Coronaviruses; COVID-19; Epidemics; Hospitals; Ligaments; Methods; Orthopedic apparatus; Pandemics; Patients; Physical therapy; Postoperative care; Range of motion; Rehabilitation; Smartphones; Surgeons; Taiwan; Telemedicine; Therapeutics, Physiological; Web portals
• ISSN: 2077-0383; 2077-0383
• DOI: 10.3390/jcm12144865

Due to the rapid spread of the coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19), most of the patients expressed a reluctance to undergo postoperative rehabilitation at a rehabilitation clinic. Therefore, in this scenario it was necessary to reshape the crucial role of postoperative rehabilitation of these patients. We conducted a telerehabilitation program based on an artificial intelligence brace (AI brace) which can monitor the progress of rehabilitation through an app and an internet server. Our hypothesis was that home-based telerehabilitation might provide clinical outcomes comparable to face-to-face, hospital-based rehabilitation programs in terms of effectiveness. A retrospective cohort study enrolled patients who received anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction (ACLR) between January and September 2020. Patients were divided into two groups: the tele-AI group received telerehabilitation with an AI brace while the FTF group had face-to-face, hospital-based rehabilitation. Clinical knee functional scores and Tegner Activity Scale (TAS) were assessed and analyzed until 12 months after the operation. The tele-AI group had higher IKDC scores at 3 months ( = 0.0443) and 6 months ( = 0.0052) after surgery and higher KOOS scores at 1 month ( = 0.0365) and 6 months ( = 0.0375) after surgery. However, no significant difference between the two groups was detected at the end of the follow-up. The tele-AI group had higher TAS than FTF group after 1 year. Telerehabilitation after ACLR seems to provide a superior short-term outcome compared to hospital-based rehabilitation during the COVID-19 pandemic.