Physical therapy for sleep apnea: a smartphone application for home-based physical therapy for patients with obstructive sleep apnea.

PURPOSE

In this study, we described "PT for Sleep Apnea", a smartphone application for home-based physical therapy of patients with Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA).

METHODS

The application was created in a joint program between the University of Medicine and Pharmacy at Ho Chi Minh City (UMP), Vietnam, and National Cheng Kung University (NCKU), Taiwan. Exercises maneuvers were derived from the exercise program previously published by the partner group at National Cheng Kung University. They included exercises for upper airway and respiratory muscle training and general endurance training.

RESULTS

The application provides video and in-text tutorials for users to follow at home and a schedule function to assist the user in organizing the training program, which may improve the efficacy of home-based physical therapy in patients with Obstructive Sleep Apnea.

CONCLUSION

In the future, our group plans to conduct a user study and randomized-controlled trials to investigate whether our application can benefit patients with OSA.