Telerehabilitation: A Guide for Physical Therapists

Publication Date: March 20, 2024

Recommendations

Recommendations

Telerehabilitation in Physical Therapist Practice

Physical therapists should recommend telerehabilitation or hybrid care, as they are at least equivalent to in-person physical therapy with respect to patient acceptability and satisfaction and are superior to in-person physical therapy with respect to adherence and attendance for certain health conditions. (M)
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Telerehabilitation Preparation

Physical therapists and patients should discuss whether telerehabilitation is a cost-effective option compared with in-person care in the context of the patient’s circumstances and conditions. (M)
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Physical therapists should identify and work to reduce barriers and promote facilitators identified from the patient’s perspectives and experiences when planning and providing telerehabilitation services. (S)
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Physical therapists should identify and work to reduce clinician and organizational barriers and promote facilitators to support the delivery of telerehabilitation services. (S)
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Telerehabilitation Implementation

When physical therapists perform components of an examination via telerehabilitation they may use the results to inform the diagnosis with comparable accuracy to an in-person visit for certain health conditions. (W)
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Physical therapists should use telerehabilitation to achieve outcomes similar to in-person care for certain health conditions. (M)
* (Recommendation strength upgraded from weak to moderate with results being consistent with high level of certainty. Health conditions studied included chronic heart failure, chronic respiratory disease, stroke, and total knee or total hip arthroplasty.)
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Physical therapists should anticipate, prevent, manage, and document occurrences of adverse events specific to telerehabilitation as the mode of delivery. (S)
* (Recommendation strength upgraded from weak to strong to be consistent with APTA professional codes of ethics to ensure patient safety.)
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