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Summary: Background: Mobile health (mHealth) systems are a promising alternative for rehabilitation of hip fracture, addressing constrained healthcare resources. Half of older adults fails to recover their pre-fracture routines, which imposes a burden on caregivers. We aimed to test the effectiveness of the 3-month ActiveHip + mHealth intervention on physical and psychological outcomes of older adults with hip fracture and their family caregivers. Methods: In a multicentre open-label randomised controlled trial conducted across 3 hospitals in Andalusia (Spain), patients older than 65 with a hip fracture, who were previously independent and lacked cognitive impairment were recruited alongside with their caregivers. Participants were randomly allocated (1:1) to the intervention group (ActiveHip+) or control (usual care) group. The intervention group underwent a 12-week health education and tele-rehabilitation programme through the ActiveHip + mHealth intervention. The primary outcome, physical performance, was assessed using the Short Physical Performance Battery at three time points: at hospital discharge (baseline), 3-month after surgery (post intervention) and 1-year after surgery follow-up. Primary analyses of primary outcomes and safety data followed an intention-to-treat approach. This study is registered at ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT04859309. Findings: Between June 1st, 2021 and June 30th, 2022 data from 105 patients and their caregivers were analysed. Patients engaged in the ActiveHip + mHealth intervention (mean 7.11 points, SE 0.33) showed higher physical performance compared with patients allocated in the control group (mean 5.71 points, SE 0.32) at 3 months after surgery (mean difference in change from baseline 1.40 points, SE 0.36; puncorrected = 0.00011). These benefits were not maintained at 1-year after surgery follow-up (mean difference in change from baseline 0.19 points, SE 0.47; puncorrected = 0.68). No adverse events, including falls and refractures, were reported during the tele-rehabilitation sessions. At 3-months, the intervention group had 2 falls, compared to 4 in the control group, with no observed refractures. At the 1-year follow-up, the intervention group experienced 7 falls and 1 refracture, while the control group had 13 falls and 2 refractures. Interpretation: This study suggests that the ActiveHip + mHealth intervention may be effective for recovering physical performance in older adults with hip fracture. Importantly, the implementation of ActiveHip + into daily clinical practice may be feasible and has already been adopted in 18 hospitals, mostly in Spain but also in Belgium and Portugal. Thus, ActiveHip + could offer a promising solution when rehabilitation resources are limited. However, its dependence on caregiver support and the exclusion of participants with cognitive impairment makes it necessary to be cautious about its applicability. In addition, the non-maintenance of the effectiveness at 1-year follow-up highlights the need of refinement the ActiveHip + intervention to promote long-lasting behavioural changes. Funding: EIT Health and the Ramón y Cajal 2021 Excellence Research Grant action from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation.

Background: Musculoskeletal trauma at midlife and beyond imposes significant impact on function and quality of life: Rehabilitation is key to support early and sustained recovery. There are frequent barriers to attending in-person rehabilitation that may be overcome by the recent advances in technology (telerehabilitation). Therefore, we conducted a systematic review of published evidence on telerehabilitation as a delivery mode for adults and older adults with musculoskeletal trauma. Methods: We followed established guidelines for conducting and reporting systematic reviews. We searched the following databases up to June 23, 2018: Cochrane Library, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature, Embase, Google Scholar, MEDLINE (Ovid and PubMed), PsycINFO, and SportDiscus. We included publications across all available years and languages for community-dwelling adults (50 years and older) with musculoskeletal trauma; and interventions using the following delivery modes: Apps, computer, telephone, videophone, videoconference, webcam, webpage, or similar media. Results: Six studies met the inclusion criteria: Five studies for hip fracture (n = 260) and one study for proximal humeral fracture rehabilitation (n = 17). Four of the studies used telephone as the delivery mode, one used computer and another used video-conferencing. Two of the studies were pre-post with no comparator group, and the remaining four studies were randomized controlled trials with low or unclear risk of bias. Studies established some modes of remote delivery as feasible, but the generalizability of the findings were limited. Two studies observed significant between-group differences (favoring the intervention) for physical activity, quality of life, and self-efficacy. Conclusion: Very few studies exist that tested the effect of telerehabilitation for recovery after musculoskeletal trauma later in life. Given the global burden imposed by musculoskeletal trauma, this review underscores an important gap in clinical knowledge.