Effects of Technology on Physical Therapy - Paper Example

Introduction

Recently, nearly every aspect of health care delivery has been affected by the different inventions of technology both positively and negatively. In a majority of cases, the advancements of technology have made the delivery of care efficient and more successful with the likes of electronic health records to telehealth, among other virtual developments that have created new ways of handling health care as well as delivering the needed care. Furthermore, one of the fields that have been drastically affected by the interventions of technology is the sector on physical therapy (Macznik, Ribeiro, & Baxter, 2015). The utilization of technology on physical therapy has been a tremendous journey especially with the outlook that some innovations are making an actual difference on the lives of the patients as well as developing every aspect of health care delivery. However, in the detail of this paper, it will deliver the different effects that technological advancement and innovations have offered to physical therapy. Although there might be adverse effects of technology on the interventions of healthcare, the positive results deliver a substantial level of impact overshadowing the negative effects. For example, there is the developments of technology in physical therapy clinical research, robotics and as well as telehealth.

Is your time best spent reading someone else’s essay? Get a 100% original essay FROM A CERTIFIED WRITER!

Order now

Telehealth

With the ideas concerning the interventions of telehealth in physical therapy, there has been a significant level of development and advancement. It delivers considerable impact especially with the occurrence that various patients would prompt to acquire services without having to meet face to face with the therapists. For example, there are multiple individuals every year that are re-admitted especially in cases where post-surgery services concerning physical therapy may be involved (Miller, 2016). Therefore, to curb these occurrences, the implementation of telehealth is playing a paramount role since research has indicated that the application of telehealth is reducing cases of readmission among others.

Robotics

Currently, there has been a reliance on robotics especially when it comes to physical therapy. There is a significant dominant use of robotics today in physical therapy as they are helping the patients with everything, ranging from walking and other therapy sessions. Majorly, robotics is offering the ability to deliver more accurate patient progress in physical therapy which is helping in providing standardized measurements that ensure that the development stays functional and helpful.

Technology and Clinical Research

Under the helm of technology and physical therapy, addressing the role of technology in clinical research is fundamental. With the utilization of new technology, it has allowed the collection of data electronically that has aided in research on physical therapy by delivering accurate and efficient information. For a period now, researchers are relying on technology to acquire needed information as well as finding new interventions to develop the services about physical therapy.

Conclusion

Technology is developing on a daily basis with new interventions. With the involvement and effects of technology is physical therapy, much has been occurring such as clinical research and technology, development of robotics, as well as telehealth; however, there is more as researchers are continually developing more and modern technologies. Hence, it is evident that the field of physical therapy is expanding and improving through the utilization of technology (Huang et al., 2014).

References

Huang, K., Sparto, P. J., Kiesler, S., Smailagic, A., Mankoff, J., & Siewiorek, D. (2014, April). A technology probe of wearable in-home computer-assisted physical therapy. In Proceedings of the 32nd annual ACM conference on Human factors in computing systems (pp. 2541-2550). ACM.

Macznik, A. K., Ribeiro, D. C., & Baxter, G. D. (2015). Online technology use in physiotherapy teaching and learning: a systematic review of effectiveness and users' perceptions. BMC medical education, 15(1), 160.

Miller, A. (2016). The use of telehealth in physical therapy for a patient with low back pain: A case report (Doctoral dissertation, Florida Gulf Coast University).