NCT05799235

Telerehabilitation for Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction - TAR Program in Adolescents

Feasibility and Effectiveness of Telerehabilitation for Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction - TAR Program Involving a Motion Capture Mobile Application in Adolescents: A Pilot Randomised Controlled Trial

• Status: Unknown
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 40 (estimated)
• Sponsor: KK Women's and Children's Hospital · Other Government
• Sex: All
• Age: 12 Years – 20 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Not accepted

Summary

Anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries are common in adolescents and its prevalence has increased over the years, especially with more adolescents engaging in physical activities and competitive sports. Standard of care for these injuries would be an ACL reconstruction (ACLR) to allow return to function and sports and reduce the risk of post-traumatic arthritis and recurrent knee injuries. Rehabilitation post-ACLR is crucial to optimise surgical outcomes and prevent re-rupture of ACL. However, good compliance to rehabilitation is often a challenge for patients and healthcare providers. Telerehabilitation for this group of patients may help to augment rehabilitation by improving patient compliance and overcome barriers to behavioural change often observed in traditional in-person physiotherapy. It can also allow remote monitoring and provide feedback to patients during exercises. In addition, it is a useful tool during pandemic when in-person visits are not possible. Currently, very few studies have evaluated the use of telerehabilitation with remote monitoring for ACLR, especially in adolescents. The use of home-based telerehabilitation post ACLR may be key to improving patient motivation and exercise compliance in adolescents. For this pilot study, the intervention group will undergo the TAR program in addition to standard care, which involves self-administered exercises in initial 12 weeks post ACLR using a mobile application. The mobile application will detect key landmarks on the body for human pose estimation. Participants will be able to perform their exercises with real-time feedback given, allowing for proper execution of the exercises. Exercise adherence, range of motion and pain scores will be tracked via the application and therapists are able to monitor via the online dashboard. The control group will undergo standard in-person physiotherapy. Primary aim of this study is to examine exercise adherence in TAR program versus standard care post ACLR in adolescents. Secondary aims of this study are to examine the effects of TAR program on knee strength, range, function, quality of life, treatment satisfaction, self-determination and number of face-to-face rehabilitation sessions required after ACLR.

Conditions

• Telerehabilitation
• Anterior Cruciate Ligament Injuries
• Anterior Cruciate Ligament

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
DEVICE	Telerehabilitation TAR program using a mobile application	Participants in this study arm will use a mobile application which allows participants to perform their home exercises with real-time feedback given, allowing for proper execution of exercises, on top of standard care.
OTHER	Standard rehabilitation sessions	Participants in this control group will attend standard in person rehabilitation sessions with home exercise program given as per standard care.

Timeline

• Start date: 2023-02-15
• Primary completion: 2024-10-31
• Completion: 2025-04-30
• First posted: 2023-04-05
• Last updated: 2023-04-05

Locations

1 site across 1 country: Singapore