Using Wearable Technology to Quantify Physical Activity Recovery: Secondary Report From the AFTER (App-Facilitated Tele-Rehabilitation) Program for COVID-19 Survivors Randomized Study.
Laura Churchill, Mary Morrow, Jacob J Capin and 5 others
PMID 36939818WHAT IT FOUND
Step counts for COVID-19 survivors recovered rapidly, increasing by 930 steps per week during the first three weeks after discharge.
Improvements then plateaued. This recovery occurred regardless of whether patients received telerehabilitation or just educational materials.
Key findings
01Daily step counts increased by an average of 930 steps per week during the first three weeks, rising from a median baseline of 4928 steps.
02After the initial three-week surge, step counts increased by only 67 steps per week for the remaining nine weeks, with no significant difference between the telerehabilitation and control groups.
03Higher BMI was significantly associated with lower daily step counts, with each 1-point increase linked to 182 fewer steps per day.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for OTs
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What it does not show
The study was a secondary analysis of a small pilot trial (n=41 with data), limiting the power to detect differences between groups or effects of covariates like age and sex. Wear time was not tracked, so daily step counts may have been underestimated if devices were not worn consistently. The sample was drawn from a single center in Colorado, which may limit generalizability to other populations. The control group received devices and regular check-ins, which may have motivated activity, confounding the comparison with the intervention group. The 12-week follow-up period is short-term, so long-term maintenance of activity levels is unknown.
Declared interests
None declared.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that telerehabilitation is ineffective based on this paper. This was a small pilot study where both groups received monitoring and contact, and the lack of difference may reflect the supportive nature of the control condition rather than the inefficacy of the intervention.