The use of technology to support lifestyle interventions in knee osteoarthritis: A scoping review

Technological tools that promote the adoption of physical activity to increase individuals' functional ability in knee osteoarthritis (OA) are desired to support lifestyle interventions. However, there is little consensus as to the current use of such supportive interventions for knee OA. The aim of this scoping review is therefore to provide an overview on the current use of technology within lifestyle interventions for individuals with knee OA.

Scoping review as per PRISMA guidance. Structured search of Cochrane Central Register for Controlled Trials, ELSEVIER, IEEExplore, GOOGLE Scholar, MEDLINE, PEDRO, PUBMED, WEB OF SCIENCE from 2010 to 2020 inclusive. Hits were screened by title and abstract and then full text review based on pre-defined criteria. Results were synthesised and pooled by theme for reporting.

2508 papers were identified, and following review, 78 studies included. Papers included interventions for individuals with knee osteoarthritis (n ​= ​31), total or partial knee arthroplasty (n ​= ​20) and developmental work in healthy controls (n ​= ​27). Of the 78 studies, 47 were carried out in laboratory settings and 31 in the field. The identified themes included Movement measurement (n ​= ​24), Tele-rehabilitation (n ​= ​22), Biofeedback (n ​= ​20), Directly applied interventions (n ​= ​3), Virtual or augmented reality (n ​= ​5) and Machine learning (n ​= ​4).

The predominant current use of technology in OA lifestyle interventions is through well-established telecommunication and commercially available activity, joint angle and loading based measurement devices, while integrating new advanced technologies seems a longer-term goal. There is great potential for the engineering and clinical community to use technology to develop systems that offer real-time feedback to patients and clinician as part of rehabilitative interventions to inform treatment.