After more than a year of home monitoring with wearables by physio- and occupational therapists, these are the most frequently monitored parameters.
The use of smartwatches and activity trackers within physiotherapy and occupational therapy is a relatively new development. These new technologies are becoming increasingly popular among consumers, but they are also being experimented with within the healthcare sector. In our experience, wearables are good tools to gain insight into activity level, load and strain capacity and lifestyle in daily life.
Three of the most commonly monitored parameters by therapists are heart rate, steps and active minutes.
Perhaps not unexpected parameters, but what is surprising is how powerful the insights from these everyday data are within a treatment or recovery pathway. Especially when combined.
In this article, we highlight these three parameters and what insights they provide.
heart rate, steps and active minutes
Heart rate
Continuous measurement of your heart rate gives a good picture of load/load capacity, as well as insight into the exact moment of overload. Among others, in patients recovering from covid-19 or patients with COPD, this enables the identification of activities that are too overloading.
Steps:
Steps are monitored in 2 ways. Both absolute (number of steps per day/week/month etc.) and steps through the day. This gives a good picture of general exercise behaviour and activity level. This allows for more targeted coaching on sufficient exercise or spreading activities throughout the day.
Active minutes:
Not all activity is an active minute. This requires a certain amount of effort similar to a brisk walk. Monitoring active minutes gives a good picture of effort throughout the day.
an example
Many valuable insights arise when these parameters are combined. For example, in the following example.
A patient with COPD was fatigued on certain days. It was now found that on those days, many steps were taken in a short period of time. A brisk walk. Not a problem in absolute terms (in terms of steps), but too strenuous in the short time frame. After the effort, the heart rate remained elevated for the rest of the day. The advice was to spread the activity more on such a day to avoid overexertion.
In patients with low energy levels, it is often everyday activities that lead to overload. Especially everyday data then helps to get a better grip on this, in our experience.
Healthcare often lacks insight into this everyday data. Wearable technology thus connects the living environment to the care environment and helps (chronic) patients take control at home.
We support over 500+ different wearable models. Want to know which smartwatches and activity trackers we support? See our wearable overview here.
