App-Based Rehabilitation in Back Pain, a Systematic Review

Area of Science:

• Digital health interventions
• Rehabilitation medicine
• Orthopaedic and neurosurgery applications

Background:

• Smartphone applications are widely accessible but underutilized in patient rehabilitation.
• The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted challenges in healthcare access, increasing the need for remote solutions.
• Integrating mobile health (mHealth) into physiotherapy for back pain is a growing area of interest.

Purpose of the Study:

• To systematically review the efficacy of smartphone rehabilitation applications versus standard physiotherapy for back pain.
• To evaluate patient outcomes, including pain scores and patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs).

Main Methods:

• Systematic literature review adhering to PRISMA guidelines.
• Searched Medline/PubMed and Google databases using specific keywords related to apps and orthopaedic/neurosurgery.
• Included prospective studies comparing smartphone apps to standard physiotherapy for back pain or post-spine surgery recovery.

Main Results:

• Nine studies involving 7636 patients were analyzed, with most in the intervention group.
• No statistically significant difference in VAS-pain scores between app-based and standard physiotherapy groups.
• Similar improvements in PROMs were observed, with one study showing a slight advantage for the app group.

Conclusions:

• Smartphone rehabilitation applications present a convenient and accessible alternative to traditional physiotherapy for back pain management.
• Patient adherence and self-dedication are crucial for maximizing the benefits of app-based rehabilitation.
• Further research may be needed to identify specific patient populations or conditions where app-based interventions offer superior outcomes.