THE IMPACT OF TECHNOLOGY ON THE FIELD OF PHYSIOTHERAPY: EXPLORING THE IMPACT OF VIRTUAL REALITY, TELEHEALTH, AND MORE

Abstract

Over the past years, innovation and technology have revolutionized the health sector, creating new possibilities for physiotherapy professionals and patients alike—incorporating technology into clinical practice allows physiotherapists to diversify their approach to injury risk management, rehabilitation, and treatment, while helping them meet the high demands of healthcare systems cities. Physiotherapy, also known as physical therapy, is a healthcare service focused on developing, maintaining, and restoring movement and functional ability. These services are provided by physiotherapy professionals, who autonomously assess physical health and create a plan aimed at resolving any difficulties.

To ensure patient health and well‐being in movement, physiotherapists engage in various clinical activities, which can be grouped into five major categories—monitoring, application, planning, prevention, and education. During monitoring activities, physiotherapists assess the movement related to a given risk in order to plan appropriate care actions. Movement monitoring can be conducted using technology, such as the automatic detection of falls in older adults that makes use of accelerometer sensors and artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms for classifying daily activities. Similarly, processing visual data collected with cameras has enabled the automatic detection of postural alterations in children with cerebral palsy, which would assist physiotherapists in conducting postural assessment (e.g., during sitting) or gait analysis (e.g., during walking) (Batista e Siqueira et al., 2024).