Background and Objectives: Many studies have evaluated factors related to lumbar multifidus (MF) muscle atrophy. However, few studies have investigated radiculopathy and the MF muscle. In this study, the association between radiculopathy and lumbar M

Background: As the primary treatment for adhesive capsulitis, intensive and accurate home exercise is as important as physical therapy in hospitals. Augmented reality (AR)-based telerehabilitation has been implemented recently in various musculoskeletal conditions to increase patient compliance and enable patients to exercise with the correct posture. The objective of this study is to present a protocol for investigating the additive effect of interactive AR-based telerehabilitation in comparison with the usual care for patients with adhesive capsulitis. Methods: This study presents the protocol of a prospective, multi-center, single-blinded, two-armed randomized controlled trial (RCT). One hundred patients with stage I or II adhesive capsulitis will be recruited at the physical medicine and rehabilitation clinic. Patients will be randomly divided into two groups with 1:1 allocation. The intervention group will receive 3 months of hospital-based physical therapy in conjunction with home-based telerehabilitation. The control group will receive 3 months of hospital-based physical therapy in conjunction with a home-based exercise described in a brochure provided by the hospital. The primary outcome will be the change in passive range of motion (ROM) of the affected shoulder joint from baseline to 12 weeks after baseline assessment. The secondary outcomes will be active ROM, pain measured with the numeric rating scale, shoulder pain and disability index, 36-Item Short Form Survey, EuroQoL-5D-5L, and Canadian Occupational Performance Measure. Discussion: This will be the first RCT study protocol to investigate the effect of telerehabilitation in patients with adhesive capsulitis. The result of this RCT will determine whether AR-based telerehabilitation is more effective than a brochure-based home exercise program and will provide evidence of the usefulness of “telerehabilitation” using hardware (IoT) and software (monitoring platform) technologies to develop “digital therapeutics” for the future. Trial registration: This trial was retrospectively registered at the Clinicaltrials.gov website on 20 March 2020, with the identifier NCT04316130.

Introduction: Limited range of motion (ROM) of the shoulder occurs commonly after breast cancer surgery, resulting in reduced quality of life and difficulty with activities of daily living. Physical exercise is effective in postoperative breast cancer patients, but no study has assessed the effects of augmented reality (AR)-based telerehabilitation. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the effect of hospital-home linked rehabilitation therapy using an AR-based digital health care system (UINCARE Home+) in postoperative patients with breast cancer. Methods: This study was a prospective, multicenter, assessor-blinded, randomized controlled trial. Patients who underwent breast cancer surgery were assigned to either the UINCARE Home+ (intervention) group or the brochure-based home rehabilitation (control) group for an 8-week intervention. The study outcomes were the change in ROM of the affected shoulder, pain in the affected shoulder (Numerical Rating Scale [NRS]), functional outcomes (Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder, and Hand questionnaire [QuickDASH] score), and quality of life (Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Breast [FACT-B] and EuroQoL 5-Dimension 5-Level [EQ-5D-5L] scores), all of which were measured at enrollment and at 4, 8, and 12 weeks thereafter. Results: A total of 100 participants were enrolled in the study ( n  = 50 in each groups). In both groups, active and passive ROM, NRS, and the QuickDASH, FACT-B, and EQ-5D-5L scores showed significant improvements from baseline to 12 weeks ( p < 0.001), but no group differences were detected. Discussion: A home-based exercise program with an AR system improved shoulder dysfunction in breast cancer patients and could be used in conjunction with a traditional hospital-based rehabilitation program. Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov ID: NCT04316156.

Park HJ, et al. Ann Rehabil Med. 2013 Jun;37(3):373-378. http://dx.doi.org/10.5535/arm.2013.37.3.373

Yun JS, et al. Ann Rehabil Med. 2015 Apr;39(2):163-169. http://dx.doi.org/10.5535/arm.2015.39.2.163

Aim: To analyze the use of YouTube videos as educational tools for four physical examinations of the shoulder: the Neer, Hawkins, empty can, and drop arm tests. Background: Video-based education, which is accompanied by text-based education, can be an effective education method, especially in learning medical skills. Medical students and doctors in training often use YouTube videos to share medical education materials, and more systematic review of the reliability of these videos is required. Methods: A search of YouTube was conducted using four keywords: ‘Neer test,’ ‘Hawkins test,’ ‘empty can test,’ and ‘drop arm test.’ Two physicians reviewed each video and recorded a variety of characteristics (date uploaded, number of views, likes and dislikes, and upload source). In addition, they scored and categorized the videos into four groups: ‘very useful,’ ‘somewhat useful,’ ‘not useful,’ and ‘misleading.’ Videos containing inappropriate content were classified as ‘misleading.’ Finally, the correlations of each video’s usefulness with viewers’ preferences and the upload source were analyzed. Results: A total of 400 videos were assessed and 200 videos were adopted which yield eligible criteria. Out of 200 videos, 51 videos were very useful and 32 were misleading. Significant correlations were observed between the video’s usefulness and the uploaded source, as well as between the video’s usefulness and viewers’ preferences, such as the number of views, views per day, and number of likes. The proportion of videos classified as ‘very useful’ was highest (58.6%) among those uploaded by physicians and lowest (12.7%) among those uploaded by individuals. Videos uploaded by individuals had significantly lower values reflecting viewer preferences than did videos uploaded by physicians. Conclusion: YouTube videos could be used as learning sources for shoulder physical examinations after the application of appropriate filtering processes, such as review of the upload source and viewers’ preferences.