Telerehabilitation Robotics: Overview of approaches and clinical outcomes

Abstract As the world’s population ages, the management of chronic diseases pressures the health-care systems to provide efficacious care while reducing mounting costs. The use of technological advancements to augment health-care services provides one such method to meet those demands. Telerehabilitation robotics is one of the newest additions to technologically mediated health care that combines established features of robot-assisted rehabilitation and telehealthcare to provide rehabilitation services at a distance. Several studies have documented clinically and statistically significant improvements in upper and lower extremity functioning, while several feasibility studies have documented improvements in high-fidelity kinematics. Telerehabilitation robotic delivery has also been shown to expand access to rehabilitation services. While telerehabilitation robotics is a promising adjunct to conventional care, numerous barriers that limit practice integration will need to be addressed to allow more widespread acceptance and use in rehabilitation.