Fall 2008
The patient experience throughout rehabilitation after total knee and hip replacement can be filled with pain, fear, and uncertainty. Our goal is to create an environment which helps the patient through the rehabilitation process. By creating an interactive environment that gives the patient feedback and encouragement while showing them how far they have progressed, we can make the experience more bearable.
If you have ever gone through therapy, you may have been told to go over to a machine and do the exercise for 5 minutes. This approach is used often when there are several patients to one therapist. The patient does not know if they are doing the exercise correctly or if they have made any progress, especially since progress is usually slow at first. These unknowns add to the unpleasantness of the therapy. We will create an experience that is fast and easy to setup that monitors the patient. We can then provide feedback to the patient to let them know how they are doing and show them how much they have progressed. The therapist can also use the information to enhance the patients therapy.