title: A Device for Local or Remote Monitoring of Hand Rehabilitation Sessions for Rheumatic Patients.
abstract: Current clinical practice suggests that recovering the hand functionality lost or reduced by injuries, interventions and chronic diseases requires, beyond pharmacological treatments, a kinesiotherapic intervention. This form of rehabilitation consists of physical exercises adapted to the specific pathology. Its effectiveness is strongly dependent on the patient's adhesion to such a program. In this paper we present a novel device with remote monitoring capabilities expressly conceived for the needs of rheumatic patients. It comprises several sensorized tools and can be used either in an outpatient clinic for hand functional evaluation, connected to a PC, or afforded to the patient for home kinesiotherapic sessions. In the latter case, the device guides the patient in the rehabilitation session, transmitting the relevant statistics about his performance to a TCP/IP server exploiting a GSM/GPRS connection for deferred analysis. An approved clinical trial has been set up in Italy, involving 10 patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis and 10 with Systemic Sclerosis, enrolled for 12 weeks in a home rehabilitation program with the proposed device. Their evaluation has been performed with traditional methods but also with the proposed device. Subjective (hand algofunctional Dreiser's index) and objective (ROM, strength, dexterity) parameters showed a sustained improvement throughout the follow-up. The obtained results proved that the device is an effective and safe tool for assessing hand disability and monitoring kinesiotherapy exercise, portending the potential exploitability of such a methodology in clinical practice.
authors.affiliation: University of Cagliari Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering Cagliari Italy 09123.
authors.forename: Danilo
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Pani
authors.affiliation: University of Cagliari Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering Cagliari Italy 09123.
authors.forename: Gianluca
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Barabino
authors.affiliation: University of Cagliari Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering Cagliari Italy 09123.
authors.forename: Alessia
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Dessì
authors.affiliation: University and AOU of Cagliari Chair of Rheumatology and Rheumatology Unit Department of Medical Sciences Cagliari Italy 09100.
authors.forename: Iosto
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Tradori
authors.affiliation: University and AOU of Cagliari Chair of Rheumatology and Rheumatology Unit Department of Medical Sciences Cagliari Italy 09100.
authors.forename: Matteo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Piga
authors.affiliation: University and AOU of Cagliari Chair of Rheumatology and Rheumatology Unit Department of Medical Sciences Cagliari Italy 09100.
authors.forename: Alessandro
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mathieu
authors.affiliation: University of Cagliari Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering Cagliari Italy 09123.
authors.forename: Luigi
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Raffo
keywords: Telerehabilitation; adapted physical exercise; rehabilitation; rheumatic diseases; telemedicine