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Free Paper Abstract - Turner

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.uk

Other 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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