Clinical trial NCT03345693: Use of MoTrack Therapy in At-Home Hand Rehabilitation
Official title: Analysis of the Use of Assistive At--Home Hand- Tracking Technology, MoTrack Therapy, in Hand Rehabilitation
Study type: INTERVENTIONAL
Overall status: COMPLETED
Phase: NA
Conditions: Hand Injuries
Keywords: Rehabilitation
MoTrack Therapy
Telemedicine
Computer Vision
Compliance
Lead sponsor: Johns Hopkins University
Sponsor class: OTHER
First posted: 2017-11-17
Enrollment: 19
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 18
Standard ages: ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: no
Allocation: NA
Intervention model: SINGLE_GROUP
Primary purpose: DEVICE_FEASIBILITY

Brief summary: This study focuses on the use of a specific type of at-home hand rehabilitation software, MoTrack Therapy, in improving the treatment of hand and wrist injuries.

Detailed description: Compliance of patients to their prescribed at-home exercises is a large issue. To many patients, the exercises are seen as mundane and boring, decreasing the motivation of patients to complete their exercises. However, even when patients do complete their exercises, patients may have difficulty knowing whether the participants are doing their at-home exercises correctly and to the right amount. After leaving his or her therapist's office, the patient usually has nothing more than a written handout, if anything, to guide them through their at-home exercises. Especially since range of motion and pain levels can change daily, it is difficult to expect the patient to consistently do his or her exercises every time, much less to do them correctly. Ineffective exercises and / or a lack of compliance can lead to setbacks, complications, or even expensive and painful repeat surgeries. And at the therapist's office, the therapist may have trouble telling whether setbacks or lack of progress is because of lack of compliance, ineffective exercises, or an underlying medical problem.

Advances in technology have made it possible to track the hands of patients suffering from hand and wrist medical conditions as patients do their at-home exercises. Furthermore, this data can be analyzed in real-time to determine if and how the patient is doing his or her exercises. Another advantage of tracking the hand is that the therapy exercises can be incorporated into a fun computer game that motivates the patient to actually complete their therapy. The hypothesis is that having a computer and accompanying sensors track the hand to give real-time feedback, monitor improvements over time, and gamify the therapy experience to motivate the patient will improve the standard of care given to patients. If this hypothesis is true, patients will understand their exercises better, be inclined to do them more often, and thus have better outcomes. Not only will patients benefit, but the therapist's job will be easier as well. The therapist will have quantitative data to help distinguish medical issues from exercise issues. Ideally, a very successful trial would even suggest a possibility for the patient to rely less on the therapist for the at-home exercises, giving the therapist time to focus on more difficult cases. This research therefore is important because the problems with at-home therapy may be mitigated or solved with such an aid.

Eligibility criteria: INCLUSION CRITERIA

* Participants with hand and wrist conditions that require at-home exercises of wrist/finger movements, including dorsiflexion, palmar flexion, radial deviation, ulnar deviation, supination, pronation, thumb adduction, etc.
* Participants who have fractures and similar conditions as the cause of the problem
* Participants must be able to give their own consent.

EXCLUSION CRITERIA

* Pregnant women
* Participants not fluent in English
* Participants below the age of 18
* Participants institutionalized or incarcerated
* Participants who's hand condition is primarily nerve-related as opposed to being caused by a fracture or similar condition

Primary outcomes:
measure: Compliance
timeFrame: At the conclusion of the patient's physical therapy (approximately 3 months after starting use of device)
Secondary outcomes:
measure: Patient Ability to Understand the Prescribed Exercises From the Device
timeFrame: Approximately two weeks after patient starts to use the device
measure: Prediction of Patient Improvement
timeFrame: Approximately two weeks after patient starts to use the device
measure: Prediction of Patient Improvement
timeFrame: Approximately four weeks after patient starts to use the device
measure: Prediction of Patient Improvement
timeFrame: Approximately six weeks after patient starts to use the device
measure: Prediction of Patient Improvement
timeFrame: At the conclusion of the patient's physical therapy (approximately 3 months after the patient starts using the device)
measure: Patient Hand Recovery
timeFrame: Baseline (defined as the therapist visit before the patient starts to use the device) and at the conclusion of the patient's physical therapy, approximately 3 months.
measure: Patient Hand Recovery
timeFrame: Baseline (defined as the therapist visit before the patient starts to use the device) and at the halfway point in the patient's expected physical therapy, which is approximately 6 weeks after baseline
measure: Patient Satisfaction
timeFrame: At the end of the patient's physical therapy (approximately 3 months after starting use of device)
measure: Therapist Satisfaction
timeFrame: At the end of the patient's physical therapy (approximately 3 months after starting use of device)
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Baltimore
country: United States
facility: Johns Hopkins Medicine
state: Maryland
Study officials:
affiliation: Johns Hopkins University
name: Scott S Lifchez, MD
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References: