Background and Aim: Increasing rates of disability, cost of rehabilitation services, lack of sufficient human resources, and transportation problems for people with disability are among the health problems in the world. Technology development has been able to overcome some of the problems in providing health care services to clients.
Telemedicine services using communication and electronic intermediaries, improve the patientschr('۳۹') health.
Telerehabilitation is a part of telemedicine interventions. In telerehabilitation, clients are far away from rehabilitation centers, and rehabilitation services are provided through communication mediums using the Internet and other technologies. Rehabilitation is an essential part of treatment for stroke patients. Gait and walking problems, caregiverschr('۳۹') conditions, geographic distance from rehabilitation centers, and transportation costs are barriers that limit access to rehabilitation services for stroke patients.
Telerehabilitation can alleviate some of these problems and provide justice access to rehabilitation services for these clients. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the available scientific evidence on the effectiveness of telerehabilitation for stroke patients.
Materials and Methods: In this review study, articles on PubMed, ScienceDirect and Google scholar databases were reviewed.
Telerehabilitation and stroke were used as search keywords. The search interval was ۱۰ years from ۲۰۱۰ to ۲۰۲۰.
Results: A total of ۶۰ studies were reviewed by selected characteristics.
Telerehabilitation can be used in order to improve activities of daily living, self-care, upper extremity function, gait and functional mobility training, cognitive rehabilitation, caregiver training, general health promotion, social participation, and quality of life for chronic stroke patients. Telecommunication devices such as mobile applications, virtual reality, and computer software can be used for home based telerehabilitation.
Conclusion:
Telerehabilitation can be used alongside with clinical rehabilitation services for stroke patients. The cost-effectiveness of telerehabilitation interventions for stroke patients has not yet been established.
