Telerehabilitation for people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: feasibility of a simple, real time model of supervised exercise training

Abstract

We evaluated the safety and feasibility of home telerehabilitation for people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Eight patients with mean age of 66 years and moderately impaired lung function took part. The telerehabilitation equipment in the participant's home included an exercise bicycle, a tablet computer with webcam for low bandwidth videoconferencing, and a pulse oximeter positioned so that the display was visible while videoconferencing. Participants undertook supervised aerobic training twice a week for eight weeks, with two participants and a physiotherapist attending each class via videoconferencing from separate locations. Primary outcomes were adverse events, sessi..