Future Trends in Mobile Rehabilitation (mRehab): Designing and Implementing Technology-Supported Interventions for Remote Rehabilitation

The widespread adoption of mobile information and communications technologies (ICT) has enabled the development of novel and accessible health and rehabilitation interventions that support community dwelling individuals with disabling chronic conditions.

Mobile Health (mHealth) and mobile rehabilitation (mRehab) offer great potential for engaging patients in therapy through features like personalization, self-monitoring, goal setting, reminders and feedback.1,2 These, in turn, support continued exercise activity and healthy behaviors outside of the clinic and can provide low-cost, accessible tools to support therapeutic exercises and behaviors. mRehab allows regular tracking (daily, hourly and at even shorter intervals) of behavior, activity, exercise and general health.3,4

The potential of these technology-enabled interventions has drawn the attention of researchers, clinicians, engineers, non-governmental organizations and national policy makers over the past two decades. Indeed, clinicians who treat patients with chronic conditions need to be able to measure gains and losses of function over time, assess effects of timing and dose of interventions and modify prescriptions as needed, provide adequate feedback about performance, and update instructions more frequently than only during in-clinic visits in order to realize optimize health and function, and reduce the cost of healthcare for the individual as well as the society.5

National and international funding agencies and health authorities have emphasized the importance of expanding access to rehabilitation through technology. The National Institutes of Health and the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR) call for investment in AI, big data, cloud computing, and smart sensor systems.6,7 The WHO’s Rehabilitation 2030 Initiative and 2023 declaration similarly highlight the need for equitable, technology-driven rehabilitation access across all settings and life stages.8,9

Course Overview. This intermediate-level, half-day instructional course is aimed at rehabilitation clinicians and clinical managers, researchers, engineers and administrators, to explore and discuss some of the core issues and opportunities for developing and implementing technology-enabled mobile rehabilitation interventions and to prepare clinicians, providers, researchers and leaders for these new frontiers in rehabilitation medicine. The course will cover the following cutting-edge topics:

  • Clinician strategies for home exercise prescription

  • Understanding and tracking adherence to home exercise prescriptions

  • Predicting outpatient adherence and success using big data

  • Engaging rehabilitation clinicians in the development and implementation of outpatient tracking systems

  • Developing and implementing AI chat solutions to support physical activity and wellness

  • Wearable technology for activity tracking in the home and community and integrating data into actionable insights

  • Development and implementation of an AI supported system for integrating and summarizing patient charts and data from wearable devices

  • Methods and models for translating and sustaining novel technology-enabled interventions in clinical operations