Revenite: A Rehabilitation Application for
Lower-Limb Prosthesis User - A Veteran
Pilot Study
Shruti Turner, Research Assistant, Imperial College London, UK - s.turner17@imperial.ac.ukOther authors: David Henson,
Alison H. McGregor, Adam Turner, Jonathan W. White
BACKGROUND
There are approximately 400 UK Veterans with amputations from recent military
conflicts. Military rehabilitation comprises blocks of inpatient care often
delivered within a group environment with an interdisciplinary approach to
care delivery. Upon military discharge, veterans with amputation(s) are
referred to NHS services for subsequent management. This challenges the NHS
services which who are less experienced in the complex prosthetic provision
requirements of this cohort and have limited time to respond to any ongoing
rehabilitation needs to maintain the high functionality veterans with
amputation(s) currently have and value. AIM To create a mobile-friendly web
application to encourage individuals with limb loss to engage with exercise
and scar management to maintain and increase their physical health, and to
facilitate long-term prosthesis use, independence and increase quality of
life.
METHOD
Our veteran community reside across the whole of the UK thus a
mobile-friendly web application was chosen to bring together this community
together through a smartphone. An initial design was created, with
physiotherapist, developer and prosthesis user input, to track exercise
sessions, and to determine approaches to engage and motivate the community to
exercise. The application also facilitates ongoing activity health monitoring
of the body and residual limb(s), as well as socket fit. Potential
functionality expansion includes self-directed exercise and training plans,
integration with fitness tools (e.g. FitBit, Strava), ability to share
information with clinicians involved in their care and an exercise discussion
forum.
RESULTS
The first iteration of the application allows users to register for the
application and provide information about themselves, including their levels
of injury, age and fitness patterns. Currently, users can manually add
activities which contribute to the totals to earn activity rewards. Perceived
exertion of each activity is recorded, as well as weekly check-ins on
wellbeing, residual limb health and socket fit. The application aims to
encourage behaviour change, rewarding a range of activity types (such as
“core work” and stretching) more than over-training a favourite activity.
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION
For this younger cohort of prosthesis users, maintaining physical health to
allow long-term independence and functionality is vital. The application
created helps to motivate individuals by tracking their progress, monitoring
health and achievement of personal goals, creating an exercise community to
replicate some of the benefits from their in-patient rehabilitation. The
application will benefit from further functional development and ongoing
partnerships to aid rehabilitation and health maintenance for a range of
active cohorts who could benefit from the app.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The authors thank the Scar Free Foundation for their
funding.
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