Effectiveness of telerehabilitation in physical therapy: A protocol for an overview in a time when rapid responses...

Rehabilitation and physical therapy have been adapting to the telehealth era, increasing accessibility and improving the continuity of attention in geographically remote populations with disabilities. Due to the spread of infection by SARS-CoV-2, many professionals have had to adapt their work to telerehabilitation practices, which require the best evidence at short notice and in summarized form. In this context, this protocol has been developed to evaluate the effectiveness of telerehabilitation as a care strategy in physical therapy for different conditions, populations, and contexts.

An overview will be carried out in the format of a rapid review. It will include systematic reviews of different conditions, populations, and contexts, where the intervention to be evaluated is telerehabilitation by physical therapy. The outcomes considered will be clinical effectiveness depending on the specific condition, functionality, quality of life, satisfaction, adherence, and safety. A search will be carried out of the MEDLINE/PubMed, EMBASE, and Cochrane Library databases. Studies will be selected in duplicate with any discrepancies resolved by a third reviewer. Data extraction and risk of bias assessment will be carried out by a reviewer with non-independent verification by a second reviewer. The findings will be reported qualitatively by tables and figures.

The principles of the value of the research question, the methodological rigor, scientifically qualified investigators, an independent evaluation of the protocol, and timely and accurate publication of the results will be complied with. The complete review will lead to the publication of at least one article, and the results will be widely disseminated at various levels of decision-making.

This protocol has been registered in PROSPERO with the number CRD42020185640.