Prospective, Single-blind, Randomized Controlled Trial to Evaluate the Effectiveness of a Digital Exercise Therapy Application Compared With Conventional Physical Therapy for the Treatment of Nonoperative Knee Conditions.

Fifty of the sixty randomized participants were analyzed, and ten were lost to follow-up, including seven in the program group and three in the physical therapy group. Participants and outcomes were self-report, and participants were not blinded, so bias may have influenced the scores. The physical therapy group's actual treatment programs, home exercises, and progressions were not recorded or standardized, so the comparison is with variable usual care. The program group received the app, video sessions, and an exercise band, so the study cannot separate the effect of the app from the other components of the program. The sample came from one hospital system and included several knee diagnoses, so the result cannot be applied confidently to all knee conditions or other settings. Recruitment occurred during early pandemic, and some participants may have been unable to complete in-person physical therapy. Adherence was measured differently in the two groups: automatically by the app for the program group and by phone self-report for the physical therapy group.

The paper lists Limber Health Inc. as the app supplier, REDCap as the data capture tool, Fabrication Enterprises as the exercise band supplier, and The R Foundation for software, but it does not provide a funding or conflict-of-interest declaration.

Do not conclude that the app alone caused the improvement or that it made patients more adherent. The program group used an app, video sessions, and an exercise band, and adherence was similar: 2.6 sessions per week in the program group and 3.2 sessions per week in the physical therapy group, with no reported difference.