Telerehabilitation as a clinical tool for Physiotherapists: From systems design to randomised controlled trial

High quality health services are often difficult to access in rural and remote areas. Telecommunications technology offers a potential medium to provide health services at a distance. This work provides evidence of the efficacy of telerehabilitation as a clinical tool for physiotherapists. This work outlines the development of a telemedicine system to meet the unique needs of clinical physiotherapists and their patients. A series of studies calibrate the system and establish its validity and reliability as a clinical assessment tool. Finally, a randomised controlled trial is presented which demonstrates the treatment efficacy of the telemedicine system and provides an exemplar for future applications.