Co-design of a novel tendinopathy telerehabilitation intervention

Repetitive-use tendinopathy is a major cause of repetitive strain injury (RSI). An estimated one-third of workers’ compensation costs in industry are due to RSI of soft tissues, particularly tendons. In order to establish new treatments for RSI, Dr. Alex Scott established an innovative tendinopathy research program, funded through a MSFHR Scholar award from 2011 to 2019. His lab discovered that injured tendon tissue loses its toughness compared to healthy tendons. The lab then developed a new exercise program which uses real time biofeedback to achieve the key goal of regaining tendon toughness. This project will develop a home-based version of this exercise (see workplan for picture of prototype).

Our goal is to bring this new exercise intervention out of the lab and into the real world. The specific objective of this project is to engage in a collaborative co-design process with clinicians and patients to optimize our working model of the biofeedback exercise system and associated user interface (phone or tablet app). By engaging with patients and clinicians, as well as insurers and regulatory agencies, we believe that the end-product will better suit real-world needs and will be suitable for testing in a future efficacy study.

Team members: Chris Napier (Sports Physiotherapy Canada); Kohle Merry (UBC); Jackie Whittaker (UBC); Rob Morgan (Independent Contractor); Carol Kennedy (Treloar Physiotherapy Clinic); Megan MacPherson (UBC); Bilal Al Momani (Internet of Things Lab, Mohawk College); Brad Wheeler (UBC); Pierre Guy (Vancouver Coastal Health); Dianne Millette (College of Physical Therapists of BC); Maya Butterfield (RA/QA Consulting); Joan Weir (Canadian Life and Health Insurance Association)