Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2018 Sep;27(9):2306-2318.
doi: 10.1016/j.jstrokecerebrovasdis.2018.05.013. Epub 2018 Jun 4.

Tele-Rehabilitation after Stroke: An Updated Systematic Review of the Literature

Fred S Sarfo  1 , Uladzislau Ulasavets  2 , Ohene K Opare-Sem  3 , Bruce Ovbiagele  4
Affiliations

Tele-Rehabilitation after Stroke: An Updated Systematic Review of the Literature

Fred S Sarfo et al. J Stroke Cerebrovasc Dis. 2018 Sep.

Abstract

Background: Tele-rehabilitation for stroke survivors has emerged as a promising intervention for remotely supervised administration of physical, occupational, speech, and other forms of therapies aimed at improving motor, cognitive, and neuropsychiatric deficits from stroke.

Objective: We aimed to provide an updated systematic review on the efficacy of tele-rehabilitation interventions for recovery from motor, higher cortical dysfunction, and poststroke depression among stroke survivors.

Methods: We searched PubMed and Cochrane library from January 1, 1980 to July 15, 2017 using the following keywords: "Telerehabilitation stroke," "Mobile health rehabilitation," "Telemedicine stroke rehabilitation," and "Telerehabilitation." Our inclusion criteria were randomized controlled trials, pilot trials, or feasibility trials that included an intervention group that received any tele-rehabilitation therapy for stroke survivors compared with a control group on usual or standard of care.

Results: This search yielded 49 abstracts. By consensus between 2 investigators, 22 publications met the criteria for inclusion and further review. Tele-rehabilitation interventions focused on motor recovery (n = 18), depression, or caregiver strain (n = 2) and higher cortical dysfunction (n = 2). Overall, tele-rehabilitation interventions were associated with significant improvements in recovery from motor deficits, higher cortical dysfunction, and depression in the intervention groups in all studies assessed, but significant differences between intervention versus control groups were reported in 8 of 22 studies in favor of tele-rehabilitation group while the remaining studies reported nonsignificant differences.

Conclusion: This updated systematic review provides evidence to suggest that tele-rehabilitation interventions have either better or equal salutary effects on motor, higher cortical, and mood disorders compared with conventional face-to-face therapy.

Keywords: Tele-rehabilitation; higher cortical dysfunction; motor function; poststroke recovery.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of Interest: All authors have none to declare.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Flow diagram of assessment of studies identified in the systematic review.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Koh GCH, Saxena SK, Fong NP, Yong D, Ng TP. The effect of participation rate in supervised and unsupervised community rehabilitation on functional outcomes of post-stroke patients at one year: a cohort study with repeated measures. IV Singapore Public Health & Occupational Medicine Conference Programme and Abstracts; 2009.
    1. Schwamm LH, Holloway RG, Amerenco P, Audebert HJ, Bakas T, Chumbler NR, et al. A review of the evidence for the use of telemedicine within stroke systems of care: a scientific statement from the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association. Stroke. 2009;40:2616–2634. - PubMed
    1. Johannson T, Wild C. Telerehabilitation in stroke care- a systematic review. J Telemed Telecare. 2011;17:1–6. - PubMed
    1. Feigin VL, Roth GA, Naghavi M, Parmar P, Krishnamurthi R, Chugh S, et al. Global burden of stroke and risk factors in 188 countries, during 1990-2013: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2013. Lancet Neurol. 2016;15(9):913–924. - PubMed
    1. Sarfo FS, Akassi J, Awuah D, Adamu S, Nkyi C, Owolabi M, et al. Trends in Stroke admission & mortality rates from 1983 to 2013 in Central Ghana. J Neurol Sci. 2015 Oct 15;357(1-2):240–5. - PubMed

Publication types