Telehealth Physical Therapy

[TopShelf85]

Hi All,

I've been reading up on telehealth and its integration into physical therapy. What type of an impact in the future do you guys predict it will have on the industry?

Is automation or loss of employment a potential outcome? Or is it merely a supplement/complement to existing hands on traditional practices?

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[jblil]

I think PT is such a hands-on discipline that Telehealth would have fairly minimal impact. It may be useful for PTs checking on highly-functioning patients, but most of the stuff we do requires physical proximity.

 

[jesspt]

There have been a few studies regarding that have started to look at the feasibility of telerehab:

http://telerehab.pitt.edu/ojs/index.php/Telerehab/article/view/5997/6185

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15603622#

 

[TopShelf85]

Jesspt, Soooo what is your opinion? Do you think that the technology will replace human physicians? Or will it be just a complement to improve quality care.

 

[DesertPT]

There have been a few studies regarding that have started to look at the feasibility of telerehab:

http://telerehab.pitt.edu/ojs/index.php/Telerehab/article/view/5997/6185

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15603622#

I don't know about that first one, with a final sample size of 4...the second one was decent though...I think it's a reasonable alternative for rural people/people that can't come to a clinic at all, like that article said...definitely sounds like another healthcare cost cutting tactic the government might favor...