Olowoyo Paul, Dhamija Rajinder K, Owolabi Mayowa O
Department of Medicine, Afe Babalola University, Ado-Ekiti, Nigeria.
Department of Neurology, Institute of Human Behaviour and Allied Sciences, New Delhi, India.
NeuroRehabilitation. 2025 Feb;56(1):5-18. doi: 10.3233/NRE-240079. Epub 2025 Apr 4.
BackgroundTelerehabilitation as a new subdiscipline of telehealth is the application of information technology to support and deliver rehabilitation services via two-way or multipoint interactive online telecommunication technology. This enables the therapist to optimize the timing, intensity, and duration of therapy which is often not possible within the constraints of face-to-face treatment protocols in current health systems.ObjectiveTo review the historical perspective and conceptual framework of telerehabilitation in neurological disorders.MethodsA narrative review of the literature was performed for the historical perspective and a systematic review of the conceptual framework was performed using the PRISMA guidelines on chronic neurological disorders; multiple sclerosis, spinal cord injury, stroke, Parkinson's disease, cognitive impairment, and headaches. The search included articles from the past 20 years (2004 to 2024).ResultsTelerehabilitation dates back to the 1960s and early 1970s. Documented effective interventions were mostly on therapies for speech disorders. The conceptual framework consisted of three major components of telerehabilitation programmes including development, implementation, and evaluation. The COVID-19 pandemic suddenly made telerehabilitation come to the limelight because physical distancing became necessary. Out of the 110,000 articles downloaded, 43 met the inclusion criteria for review on the conceptual framework of telerehabilitation in relation to neurological disorders. The articles discussed multiple sclerosis (2), spinal cord disorders (1), stroke (17), Parkinson's disease (15), headaches (3), and cognitive disorders (5). All articles reviewed assessed the effectiveness of telemedicine except for the articles on multiple sclerosis and spinal cord disorders which examined the interphase between the technology and the end users.ConclusionThe future of telerehabilitation looks promising with the subsequent integration of innovative tools and applications. This will require the adaption of technology, continuous capacity building, education, and training of healthcare professionals to ensure that they are adequately equipped with the necessary skills to provide quality virtual reality rehabilitation care.
背景
远程康复作为远程医疗的一个新分支，是利用信息技术通过双向或多点交互式在线电信技术来支持和提供康复服务。这使治疗师能够优化治疗的时间、强度和持续时间，而在当前卫生系统面对面治疗方案的限制下，这通常是不可能实现的。
目的
回顾神经疾病远程康复的历史背景和概念框架。
方法
对文献进行叙述性回顾以了解历史背景，并使用PRISMA指南对慢性神经疾病（多发性硬化症、脊髓损伤、中风、帕金森病、认知障碍和头痛）的概念框架进行系统回顾。检索范围包括过去20年（2004年至2024年）的文章。
结果
远程康复可追溯到20世纪60年代和70年代初。有记录的有效干预措施大多针对言语障碍治疗。概念框架包括远程康复计划的三个主要组成部分，即开发、实施和评估。由于需要保持身体距离，新冠疫情突然使远程康复成为焦点。在下载的110,000篇文章中，43篇符合关于神经疾病远程康复概念框架综述的纳入标准。这些文章讨论了多发性硬化症（2篇）、脊髓疾病（1篇）、中风（17篇）、帕金森病（15篇）、头痛（3篇）和认知障碍（5篇）。除了关于多发性硬化症和脊髓疾病的文章研究了技术与最终用户之间的相互作用外，所有综述文章都评估了远程医疗的有效性。
结论
随着创新工具和应用的后续整合，远程康复的未来看起来很有前景。这将需要技术的适应、持续的能力建设、教育以及对医疗保健专业人员的培训，以确保他们具备提供高质量虚拟现实康复护理所需的必要技能。
