The use of telerehabilitation in physiotherapeutic health care for the elderly: scoping review

Abstract

Objective: to identify the panorama of the use of telerehabilitation in the health of the elderly.

Material and Methods: it is a scope review, in which a search for articles was carried out in the databases PubMed, Web of Science, LILACS, Scopus and Scielo, with no defi ned date of publication, based on the following keywords: “aged” , “Telerehabilitation”, “physical therapy specialty” and “physical therapy modalities”. The variables year of publication, study objective, types of intervention, devices used and main outcomes were analyzed. In addition, a characterization of the sample was made, based on the age, sex and health conditions studied.

Results: 28 studies were found that used telerehabilitation as a treatment strategy for various diseases in the elderly. It was possible to observe that the realization of physiotherapy by telerehabilitation can be as effective as the physical rehabilitation, having presented an expressive increase in the last 5 years.

Conclusion: Telerehabilitation in physiotherapeutic treatment for the elderly can be as effective as face-to-face rehabilitation and the availability of new technologies has enabled greater coverage and better access for this audience.