Measuring Adherence to Home Shoulder Physiotherapy With Artificial Intelligence

NCT04629417 | Completed

• 1 other identifier: SPARS2019
• Study Type: interventional
• Target: 103
• Locations: 1 country
• Sites: 1

Brief Summary

An important part of recovery for shoulder injuries, is sticking to the exercise regimen that is prescribed by a physiotherapist. Currently, there is no proper way to measure whether patients are correcting doing their prescribed exercises at home. Researchers at Sunnybrook have tested out a Smart Physiotherapy Recognition System (SPARS), which consists of a watch that patients can wear while they are performing their physiotherapy exercises. The watch aims to learn how the exercises are done correctly when worn during supervised physiotherapy sessions, and then to record and compare whether those same exercises are being done correctly in a home setting. The main objectives of this study aims to test whether the SPARS system can effectively measure whether physiotherapy exercises are being done properly when they are done without physiotherapist supervision. Secondly, to examine whether the recovery process after shoulder injuries is improved if patients perform the physiotherapy exercises correctly.

Conditions

Rotator Cuff Pathology

Keywords

Rehabilitation; Artificial Intelligence; Wearable Electronic Devices; Adherence

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (1)

• Physiotherapy participation (smart watch inertial data)

  Watch will begin recording inertial sensor data when it is put on during supervised and home physiotherapy exercises, and will stop recording when it is removed.

  Up to 3-5 months

Secondary Outcomes (5)

• Work status

  Up to 1 year

• Numeric Pain Rating Scale (NPRS)

  Up to 1 year

• The Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder and Hand (DASH) Score

  Up to 1 year

• Strength testing

  Up to 12 weeks

• Shoulder active range of motion

  Up to 12 weeks

Study Arms (2)

Injured Worker Population

EXPERIMENTAL

Participants that have a confirmed rotator cuff pathology, and are undergoing physiotherapy at the Holland Centre for a work-related shoulder injury as part of the Working Condition Program.

Device: Smart Physiotherapy Activity Recognition System (SPARS)

OHIP (funded) Patient Population

ACTIVE COMPARATOR

Participants that have a confirmed rotator cuff pathology, and are undergoing physiotherapy at the Holland Centre as part of the Shoulder Program.

Device: Smart Physiotherapy Activity Recognition System (SPARS)

Interventions

Smart Physiotherapy Activity Recognition System (SPARS) DEVICE

Wearable smart watch that records inertial data such as (accelerometer, gyroscope magnetometer) while patients are performing physiotherapy exercises.

Injured Worker Population; OHIP (funded) Patient Population

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 18 Years+
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: No
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)

You may qualify if:

• Males and females over the age of 18
• Be diagnosed with rotator cuff tendinosis, shoulder impingement syndrome or a rotator cuff tear
• Will be undergoing planned conservative management
• Be able to participate in home physiotherapy exercises

You may not qualify if:

• Upper extremity neurological deficit
• Have had a previous failed surgery on the shoulder that is currently being treated
• Undergoing simultaneous treatment for both shoulders

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre: lead

Study Sites (1)

Sunnybrook Holland Orthopaedic & Arthritic Centre

Toronto, Ontario, M4Y 1H1, Canada

Location

Related Publications (8)

• Littlewood C, Bateman M, Clark D, Selfe J, Watkinson D, Walton M, Funk L. Rehabilitation following rotator cuff repair: a systematic review. Shoulder Elbow. 2015 Apr;7(2):115-24. doi: 10.1177/1758573214567702. Epub 2015 Jan 29.

  PMID: 27582966 BACKGROUND

• Thomson S, Jukes C, Lewis J. Rehabilitation following surgical repair of the rotator cuff: a systematic review. Physiotherapy. 2016 Mar;102(1):20-8. doi: 10.1016/j.physio.2015.08.003. Epub 2015 Sep 8.

  PMID: 26510584 BACKGROUND

• Jack K, McLean SM, Moffett JK, Gardiner E. Barriers to treatment adherence in physiotherapy outpatient clinics: a systematic review. Man Ther. 2010 Jun;15(3):220-8. doi: 10.1016/j.math.2009.12.004. Epub 2010 Feb 16.

  PMID: 20163979 BACKGROUND

• Faber M, Andersen MH, Sevel C, Thorborg K, Bandholm T, Rathleff M. The majority are not performing home-exercises correctly two weeks after their initial instruction-an assessor-blinded study. PeerJ. 2015 Jul 21;3:e1102. doi: 10.7717/peerj.1102. eCollection 2015.

  PMID: 26244112 BACKGROUND

• Bollen JC, Dean SG, Siegert RJ, Howe TE, Goodwin VA. A systematic review of measures of self-reported adherence to unsupervised home-based rehabilitation exercise programmes, and their psychometric properties. BMJ Open. 2014 Jun 27;4(6):e005044. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2014-005044.

  PMID: 24972606 BACKGROUND

• Burns DM, Leung N, Hardisty M, Whyne CM, Henry P, McLachlin S. Shoulder physiotherapy exercise recognition: machine learning the inertial signals from a smartwatch. Physiol Meas. 2018 Jul 23;39(7):075007. doi: 10.1088/1361-6579/aacfd9.

  PMID: 29952759 BACKGROUND

• Beaton DE, Katz JN, Fossel AH, Wright JG, Tarasuk V, Bombardier C. Measuring the whole or the parts? Validity, reliability, and responsiveness of the Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder and Hand outcome measure in different regions of the upper extremity. J Hand Ther. 2001 Apr-Jun;14(2):128-46.

  PMID: 11382253 BACKGROUND

• Staples MP, Forbes A, Green S, Buchbinder R. Shoulder-specific disability measures showed acceptable construct validity and responsiveness. J Clin Epidemiol. 2010 Feb;63(2):163-70. doi: 10.1016/j.jclinepi.2009.03.023. Epub 2009 Aug 14.

  PMID: 19683414 BACKGROUND

Study Officials

• Robin Richards

  Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre

  PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR

Study Design

• Study Type: interventional
• Phase: not applicable
• Allocation: NON RANDOMIZED
• Masking: NONE
• Purpose: TREATMENT
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: SPONSOR

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: August 14, 2020
• First Posted: November 16, 2020
• Study Start: May 14, 2019
• Primary Completion: February 16, 2024
• Study Completion: February 16, 2024
• Last Updated: August 7, 2025

Record last verified: 2024-07

Data Sharing

• IPD Sharing: Will not share

Locations

CA (1)