Physiotherapists’ perceptions and barriers to use of telerehabilitation for exercise management of people with knee osteoarthritis in Sri Lanka

Abstract

Purpose

To assess physiotherapists’ perceptions and barriers to using telerehabilitation via video and telephone for exercise management for people with knee osteoarthritis (OA) in Sri Lanka.

Materials and methods

Currently registered and practising Sri Lankan physiotherapists who care for knee OA patients were invited to participate in a cross-sectional online survey framed according to a previous study. A logistic regression analysis was used to assess the effect of physiotherapists’ characteristics on their interest in telerehabilitation.

Results

A total of 268 physiotherapists completed the survey, which was broadly representative of locations and work settings across Sri Lanka. Only three out of 16 statements received majority agreement; these were that telephone-delivered care would save patients’ time (72%), save money (68%) and improve patients’ privacy (67%). There was a consensus that video-based care would save money (79%), and many favoured this medium over telephone-delivered care. Lack of experience with telerehabilitation was associated with reduced interest in telephone-delivered care. Increased interest in video-based care was associated with frequent care of knee OA patients. Most physiotherapists perceived technical issues with telerehabilitation as a significant barrier to implementing it.

Conclusions

Physiotherapists perceived video-based telerehabilitation more positively than care over the telephone. Reduced interest in telerehabilitation was associated with having no prior experience with it. Moreover, technical issues with telerehabilitation were perceived as the main barrier to its use. A training programme for physiotherapists, appropriate guidelines and a framework for better implementing telereahabilitation may yield substantial benefits for knee OA patients.

IMPLICATIONS FOR REHABILITATION

• Physiotherapists in Sri Lanka perceive telerehabilitation for exercise management for knee OA patients positively.

• Telerehabilitation via video or telephone is a viable option for delivering exercise management for knee OA patients in Sri Lanka.

• The widespread practice of telerehabilitation by physiotherapists in Sri Lanka requires appropriate strategies to mitigate barriers to its implementation.

Keywords:

• Knee
• osteoarthritis
• telerehabilitation
• video
• telephone

Acknowledgements

We thank all the physiotherapists that participated in this study.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author on request.