Chronic joint disorders are common conditions patients come to the physiotherapist or exercise therapist with. Conditions such as osteoarthritis and rheumatism cause problems in daily functioning due to pain and reduced mobility. Cure is often not possible, but promoting self-management can prevent exacerbation.

Self-management refers to an individual’s abilities to manage the symptoms, treatment, physical and psychological consequences and lifestyle changes associated with a chronic condition.

Exercise therapists and physiotherapists play a central role in supporting self-management in patients with joint disorders. The deployment of online applications, including mobile applications, and online platforms, aimed at promoting self-management (defined in this proposal as Behavioural Intervention Technologies: BITs) can support patients with chronic joint diseases.

Here, it is crucial that BITs match users’ needs. Moreover, using BITs to support self-management requires a different way of working from professionals and adjustments in required competences, both from the client and professional.

However, for many professionals it is unclear how BITs can be used to increase self-management and how this can be combined with physical counselling. Therefore, in this two-year project, we investigate how exercise and physical therapists can shape coaching on self-management through BITs.

The central question in this study is:
‘In what ways can physio & remedial therapists use online applications to coach patients with chronic joint disorders in the best possible way to increase their self-management skills?’

Project duration

1 Oct 2023 -1 Oct 2025

Project manager

Daniel Bossen, Faculteit Gezondheid, Hogeschool van Amsterdam

Researchers

prof. dr Somaya Ben Allouch

Stephanie Kramer MSc

Tamara V. Pinos Cisneros

Funding

SIA RAAK Publiek

Partners

• Reade
• Amsterdam UMC
• Hogeschool Utrecht
• Nationale Vereniging ReumaZorg Nederland
• GGD Amsterdam
• Hogeschool Arnhem Nijmegen (HAN)
• ReumanetNL
• Erasmus MC
• De Vereniging van Oefentherapeuten Cesar en Mensendieck (VvOCM)
• Koninklijk Nederlands Genootschap voor Fysiotherapie (KNGF)
• HealhTrain
• Hogeschool van Rotterdam (HR)
• Dijklander ziekenhuis, Reumatologie
• Fysiotherapie Collectief Amsterdam
• Netwerk Oefentherapeuten Amsterdam

More accessible tools such as the Oculus-Rift (virtual reality), Kinect and Wii focus primarily on gross motor skills (Guberek et al., 2009; Winkels, Kottink, Temmink, Nijlant, & Buurke, 2013), and traditional toys lack the ability to generate data that can be useful for therapy. Accordingly, the limitations of present therapies demonstrate a significant need for the development of novel approaches and treatments.

With this project we are interested in researching: “How to design smart-toys to improve home-based therapies for children with Cerebral Palsy?”. This research project will be using a Research through Design (RtD) approach as proposed by Zimmerman et al. (Zimmerman, Forlizzi, & Evenson, 2007) for iterative creation of prototypes and knowledge generation as is standard in-game development. This research makes emphasis in the use of toys, which are more open-ended than most games that have predefined rules and outcomes but give more opportunity for imagination.

This research provides an important opportunity to advance the understanding of motivation and playfulness in therapy assisted by new technologies. This is a PhD project executed in collaboration with the ‘Digital Society School’, the ‘Play and Civic Media’ lectorate and the Digital Life Centre in the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences, the ‘University of Twente’ and ‘Roessingh Rehabilitation Centre’.

For more information visit the website Toys4Therapy

Project duration

1 Oct 2018 -31 Oct 2022

Researchers

Tamara V. Pinos Cisneros

Funding

Hogeschool van Amsterdam

Partners

• Digital Society School
• Play and Civic Media
• University of Twente