TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2022//
TI  - A novel telerehabilitation with an educational program for caregivers using telelecture is feasible for fall prevention in elderly people: a case series
JO  - Medicine (Baltimore)
A1  - Moriichi, Kentaro
A1  - Fujiya, Mikihiro
A1  - Ro, Takanori
A1  - Ota, Tetsuo
A1  - Nishimiya, Hitomi
A1  - Kodama, Mariko
A1  - Yoshida, Nana
A1  - Hattori, Yukari
A1  - Hosokawa, Tetsuya
A1  - Hishiyama, Hohei
A1  - Kunimoto, Masao
A1  - Hayashi, Hiroki
A1  - Hirokawa, Hiroyuki
A1  - Yoshida, Akitoshi
SP  - e27451
EP  - e27451
VL  - 101
IS  - 6
N2  - BACKGROUND: The importance of fall prevention rehabilitations has been well recognized. Recently telerehabilitation was developed, however, there have been no reports on telerehabilitation with direct support from specialists for fall prevention among the elderly. We herein reported telerehabilitation by caregivers educated by our novel educational program. <br><br>METHODS: Caregivers were educated with our educational program using a telelecture system and supported telerehabilitation following instructions from rehabilitation specialists in our university using the telemedicine system every two to four weeks for three months. Caregivers were assessed with our original questionnaire before and after the telelecture. Participants were assessed by the Berg Balance Scale (BBS), Timed Up & Go test (TUG test), Hand-held dynamometer (HHD) and Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) before and after telerehabilitation. Wilcoxon's signed-rank test was used for the statistical analyses. A value of P<.05 was considered statistically significant. <br><br>RESULTS: Nine elderly people were enrolled. The mean age was 84.7 (78-90) years old and the sex ratio was 1:8 (males:females). The average number of telerehabilitation sessions was 4.7. The average score of nineteen caregivers before the lecture was 15.3, while that after the lecture was 18.3. Caregivers' understanding was significantly increased after the telelecture (P<.001). No adverse events occurred during the study period. The median values of the BBSs, TUG test, right and left HHD and MMSE before and after 3 months' telerehabilitation were 43 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 40.10, 49.01) and 49 (95% CI: 41.75, 50.91), 17.89 (95% CI: 15.51, 23.66) and 18.53 (95% CI: 14.56, 25.67), 7.95 (95% CI: 4.38, 10.14) and 11.55 (95% CI: 7.06, 13.55), 9.85 (95% CI: 6.79, 12.59) and 13.20 (95% CI: 7.96, 14.42), and 19 (95% CI: 12.34, 21.66) and 16 (95% CI: 10.81, 21.00), respectively. Although approximately half of the participants showed improvement in the BBS, TUG test, right and left HHD and MMSE, no significant changes were observed (P=.7239, P=.3446, P=.1023, P=.3538 and P=.8253, respectively). <br><br>CONCLUSIONS: Our telerehabilitation program exhibited significant effects in elderly people and improved the degree of understanding concerning rehabilitation among caregivers in facilities for elderly people.<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 0025-7974
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/MD.0000000000027451
ID  - ref1
ER  -