User Centered Method Of Assessing Physical Capability And Capacity For Creating And Providing Unique Care Protocols With Ongoing Assessment
A system and method are disclosed for assessments, which can be self-conducted or performed with the assistance of a healthcare provider. The system and method assist a user to interact with a user-centered system utilizing the musculo-skeletal system as a basis for generation a protocol for treatment for wellness, general health, diseases, pre employment physical capacity tests, prevention of repetitive stress, absence management, worker's compensation cost control, disease management, conditions, and athletics. The system and method disclosed assist the user in performing both physical or function capability assessment as well as physical or functional capacity assessment.
This is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/233,755 filed Sep. 23, 2005 entitled “User Centered Method Of Assessing Physical Capability And Capacity For Creating And Providing Unique Care Protocols With Ongoing Assessment”, which will issue Jan. 30, 2007 as U.S. Pat. No. 7,169,085, and the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.
BACKGROUNDThe present invention is related to health care and more specifically to a user centered method of assessing functional and physical capacity and evaluating the ability of a person to perform activities of daily living based on health concerns, diseases, disabilities, injuries, surgeries and presenting a continuum of care protocol with ongoing assessments and outcome analysis.
During the past few decades the demand for physical therapy services has risen. These services have typically been limited to exercise therapy under the direct supervision of a medical professional. Injury victims, including those experiencing pain or limited functional capacity or even immobility, commonly see a physical therapist during medical treatment and expect the therapist to address the pain and/or their functional capability that has resulted in reduced mobility. During a typical physical therapy session, the therapist assesses a client's physical situation by reviewing the relevant medical records and by direct assessment of the client. Based on the combination of information gathered from medical background and direct assessment the therapist will provide an exercise protocol along with a plan of care. However, a limitation of providing physical therapy generally is that the therapist and the client need to be located together. This restricts the access of some users to therapists. An alternative solution would be to provide a traveling therapist. However, this places significant time limitations on how many clients a traveling therapist can visit in a day due to time spent traveling.
Yet another alternative is telemedicine. Telemedicine is an idea that has drawn recent attention from military, government, medical professionals, insurers and computer/software specialists Telemedicine is the provision of health care consultation and education using telecommunication networks to communicate information, and practice medicine via telecommunications and interactive video technology. Telemedicine typically involves the real time or near real-time transfer of medical information between places.
In addition to telephone based services, the Internet has given birth to a variety of sites that provide information to anyone desiring to improve their physical fitness. One such site, iFIT.com, provides for interactive one-on-one personal training. The instructor can walk the user through the training session via a pair of computers, each with video capability. However, this has the limitation of requiring a person to interact with the user and the limitation of the user having the necessary video capability.
Personal on-line training programs or competing in virtual races are also available to users. However, these programs do not take into account the physical condition of the user and do not provide a means for assessing the user's ability prior to providing the exercise program. These on-line training programs allow the user to train at home minus the equipment you would find in the fitness club. However, these programs typically do not take into account tailoring a program based on the user's physical condition. Other on-line services provide videos for specific injuries and conditions, but again fail to specifically assess the user's physical condition. For example, various services exist that provide a video library that can be used by users and clinicians to customize exercise programs. For example, patent applications filed include Leeds et al., U.S. Publication No. 2002/0082143, published Jun. 27, 2002, U.S. application Ser. No. 09/360,225, and Leeds et al., U.S. Publication No. 2001/0050088, published Dec. 13, 2001.
Other known systems and methods link a care giver to a user using visual and audio communication. For example, Chen et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,553,609 discloses a network employing audio-visual technology to link a user with a remote care-giver. Data and video are transferred between the caregiver and the user to enable the user to have access to a remote, or multiple remote caregivers. The network includes a database with accessible user information to assist caregivers in diagnosis and treatment. The network relies on bodily condition sensors and other appliances, which may be controllable by the caregiver, to monitor a user. However, such systems are faced with limitations that prevent cost effective delivery of services to users. For example, the video technology, in particular, is remotely controlled to enable the caregiver to visually search particular areas. Another reason for the high cost is that the care giver needs to monitor the user using, for example, the audio technology that enables the caregiver to listen to sounds made by the user.
Known methods of providing physical therapy services are costly and not readily available. Additionally, current systems and methods do not provide a tool that is responsive to surgical needs and related capability of the user as well as the user's capacity. Also individual efforts to comply with an independent assessment program are poor because of inadequate follow-up materials to be reviewed by the user and because of the lack of progression information given to the patient.
Therefore, what is needed is a system and method for user generated exercise prescription that allows a user to self assess based on a specific injury, condition, disease, goal or surgery and generate an exercise protocol, allowing the user to view it and if desired, customize the protocol in accordance with the user's requirements and exercise tools available. Furthermore, there is a need to provide such services cost effectively and make them readily available while taking into consideration the physical condition of the user. There is also a need to enable a user to have their records transferred to various health care providers so that the user may see any of a number of physical therapists without undue burden.
SUMMARYA system and method are disclosed for generating an exercise prescription based on a user's self assessment related to functional capacity, physical performance goals, specific injury, health condition, disease, goal or surgery. The present invention generates an exercise protocol, based on that assessment performed by the user allowing the user to view the protocol and if desired, customize the protocol in accordance with the user's requirements and the exercise tools available to the user. The assessments and applicable related exercise and care plans are provided directly to the users, with or without caregiver intervention. The information provided is based on capability, physical performance goals, functional capacity, specific injury, surgery, disease or health condition while providing feedback to the user and healthcare provider.
Self-management is considered the cornerstone of the overall management of many chronic conditions since access to medical care, including education, is often limited because of time, distance and financial constraints. This system empowers the user to appropriately care for themselves. Compliance is a major reason for failed self care. A primary cause of non-compliance is lack of accurate reinforcement to ensure home exercise is performed properly.
Assessments and related exercise and plans of care are both fact and time based and provide exercise regimes that can be modified by the user within acceptable ranges, which is monitored by the system according to the teaching of the present invention. The exercise protocols are generated by algorithm-based assessments completed by the user. Data, including medical and personal history, disease, injury, surgery, medical condition or physical requirements are entered by the user along with responses to functional capacity questions based on specific single or multiple areas of anatomy. Assessment questions are movement or exercise based and used to evaluate functional capability and capacity; each question can be a used to provide an assessment. For example, one question, such as the ability to pick something up, may be sufficient to provide an exercise specific for that activity, while a series of questions form an important part of a total assessment test. Based on a patient's complete assessment, algorithms that use the answers automatically determine the exercise and care plan specific to that individual. The care plans, which may include exercises, body mechanics and treatments, are presented using audio and video delivered by Web, DVD, TV, radio frequency, satellite and other medium to give the user the ability to perform directed exercise therapy anytime, anywhere.
The disclosed method extends and expands the reach of clinicians by standardizing care for common rehabilitation treatments and education by automating clinically driven prevention and treatment by utilizing health risk assessments, evaluations, scales, practice guidelines and user empowerment strategies with users receiving personalized education and care plans based on profiles and physical risk assessments.
The system utilizes a communication link between the system and the user, which includes sound and video treatment reinforcement as well as assessment and outcome management reporting to authorized healthcare providers and third party payers. Accordingly, assessments are performed on an ongoing basis directed by the system and exercise protocols adjusted accordingly and the user status communicates to healthcare providers, payers and employers electronically. The system according to the present invention directs the user for timing of a schedule assessment and automatically notifies the user. However, an alternative embodiment of the present invention allows the user or any other authorized user to perform the assessment as often as desired or necessary to provide the proper protocol, especially as the capability or capacity of the user changes.
The present invention also provides computer guided questions, the answers to which provide time based assessments resulting in exercise therapy and related care plans for specific wellness, general health, diseases, pre-employment physical capacity tests, prevention of repetitive stress, absence management, worker's compensation cost control, disease management, conditions and athletic activities to increase activities of daily living, correct impairments and evaluate and improve physical and functional capabilities and/or capacities.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGSThese and other aspects and features of the present invention will become apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art upon review of the following description of specific embodiments of the invention in conjunction with the accompanying figures, wherein:
The present invention will now be described in detail with reference to the drawings, which are provided as illustrative examples of the invention so as to enable those skilled in the art to practice the invention. Notably, the figures and examples below are not meant to limit the scope of the present invention to a single embodiment, but other embodiments are possible by way of interchange of some or all of the described or illustrated elements. Moreover, where certain elements of the present invention can be partially or fully implemented using known components, only those portions of such known components that are necessary for an understanding of the present invention will be described, and detailed descriptions of other portions of such known components will be omitted so as not to obscure the invention.
In the present specification, an embodiment showing a singular component should not necessarily be limited to other embodiments including a plurality of the same component, and vice-versa, unless explicitly stated otherwise herein. Moreover, applicants do not intend for any term in the specification or claims to be ascribed an uncommon or special meaning unless explicitly set forth as such. Further, the present invention encompasses present and future known equivalents to the known components referred to herein by way of illustration.
The present invention includes a system of user directed assessments and evaluation scales along with clinically accepted post surgical protocols supported by a database library of treatments based on specific phases of rehabilitation and the related goals, including rehabilitation exercise videos, precautions, utilization of assistive devices, and other therapeutic treatments. The system performs the assessment to determine a user's physical capability as well as functional capacity, wherein capability is a determination of the user's ability to perform a particular task using a specific part of the body and capacity measures how well or with what degree of difficulty the person performs the assigned task with the part of the body. The user communicates with the system through a communication device. The scope of the present invention is not limited by the type of device used to communicate with the system. For example, the user can communicate with the system using an interactive or web-enabled television (TV), an interactive Digital Video Disk (DVD), fill out and fax a form, use a touchtone phone to manually enter responses.
Referring now to
Referring now to
The user can perform an assessment, preferably in substantially real-time at a single session, and using any of the devices 40 to communicate the information to the system 10, wherein the application program will receive and read the data that is later stored in the database. The user can also communicate answers or responses through a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA) or a wireless phone. In yet another embodiment the user would respond, as prompted, to the questions that are verbally presented. In an alternative embodiment, the user can respond to prompts from the system 10 based on a list of written questions that the user previously received. Accordingly, the user can receive the questions in advance and conduct the assessment using a telephone having Dual Tone Multi-Frequency (DTMF) functionality. Additionally, the system 10 is in communication with third parties or health care providers 46. Accordingly, the user's medical history and the results of the user's assessment can be directly communicated to the health care provider 46 thereby allowing a user to complete an assessment and instantly provide the results of the assessment to the health care provider 46.
Referring now to
Referring now to
One example of the information provided and the analysis performed is related to the ankle specific medical history as shown below. The user responds to a series of questions as follows:
What is your current functional level compared to your level prior to this injury?
10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
Does another injury limit your functional capacity prior to the current injury? Y N
If yes, what level of unrestricted function were you prior to this injury?
-
- 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
Please assess this other injury as well to have a complete exercise program to improve your condition.
Please indicate where this injury is and assess it also in order to have a complete program design. - 1. Did the pain begin for no apparent reason? Y N
- 2. Do you have pain while inactive? Y N
- 3. Do you currently have a fever, infection, swelling in the ankle or general body aching? Y N
- If yes to any of the above 3 questions, you should have additional medical screening for other potential problems.
If you have had additional screening and have been cleared to participate in a rehab program, please continue.
Do you have numbness, tingling or pain in your thigh, leg or foot that change with changes in posture, position or activity? Y N If Y, then also use low back exam to clear possible referral of symptoms.
- 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%
Information may be received from the user by phone, fax, web, email, personal digital assistant, or any other electronic method and associated device for transmitting data and automatically interfaced with the system. Information is stored in the system's database and sorted based on any number of criteria, including user name, date, concern, surgery and injury. The algorithms determine whether the user should proceed with the system or stop using the system and be referred to a health care provider. By algorithms, as used herein, is broadly meant a manner of attributing the proper weight to the various inputs that are used in the determination of the appropriate exercise, as well as other factors, such as the amount of time since the injury and/or surgery. Different algorithms are determined for usage with a specific area of the body and based on the weighting of answers to specific questions that either individually, as a group or in total, will determine the exercises or phase of care and related exercises and care plans appropriate based on the answers of the user. For ease of usage, the term “algorithms” is used herein, but it should be understood that not all assessments will use all algorithms, but typically different algorithms are created for the assessments dealing with a specific area of the body. Thus, the number of questions and weighting of those questions relative to each other and any other criteria is preferably made for each different specific body area. In one embodiment, a score of either an individual question, group, or total number of questions is then applied to a specific scale, based on the specific area to determine the appropriate exercises and plan of care. For instance A1+B2+C3+D4=total score, where A, B, C and D are weights to the values associated with questions 1, 2, 3, and 4. This will give a scaled score, which score can then be measured for the range of scores possible, and, based upon that, the appropriate exercise routine selected automatically. Questions can be weighted based upon many factors, such as relevance to the particular assessment and/or time since the injury and/or surgery As the user performs a reassessment, a recalculation is preferably performed to determine an updated exercise or plan of care.
If the algorithms determine that the person should be referred to a health care provider, then at step 106 the user is provided instructions to contact a health care provider. In one embodiment, the user would simply receive instructions to contact a health care provider, while in another embodiment, the user is provided with a choice of health care providers located near the user and at step 108 the information provided by the user, in response to the questions, is forwarded to the healthcare provider selected by the user.
If the user was referred to a healthcare provider during a previous assessment, then the system checks to make sure that the user has a physician clearance. Alternatively, if the user was referred to a healthcare provider and the user elects to continue, then the system checks to determine if a user already obtained a physician clearance prior to beginning the assessment program. If the user is a returning user, then at step 110 the current status of all exercise assessments for individual specific areas are noted with specific requirements and actions for the user to perform. At steps 112 and 114, the user selects the specific area(s) of the body and date of the injury, trauma or surgery along with the specific concern, injury or surgery. For example, in one instance the goal of the user may be to jump higher. Thus, the protocols established based on the assessment performed will be to enhance or improve the user's vertical leap. In another instance the user may be recovering from an injury, which will result in a protocol specific to the needs of the user based on the assessment. At step 116, the system queries the user to determine if the user has had surgery. If so, then at step 118 the system will move the user to a separate assessment program routine that handles the process of evaluation and determination of exercise protocols for post surgical care, as shown in
At step 122, the initial assessment, which is based on the specific body area selected by the user, uses algorithms to evaluate the user's ability to proceed with additional testing and the program. Assessment information is stored and tracked for analysis and for reporting to a third party as described the process set forth in
Referring now to
Continuing with the example provided above, an example of the initial assessment for the ankle with the associated point scale is as follows:
Pain: Please rate your pain
-
- 40—No Pain
- 30—Occasional pain, no compromise of activities
- 20—Mild pain, limits recreational/work activities, activities of daily living are Unlimited
- 10—Painful, activities of daily living are difficult
- 0—Painful, cannot do any activity
Range of Motion: Perform tests with your knee straight and compare to the uninjured ankle - 40—No limitations of motion
- 30—Can fully point foot away from and towards your knee and can turn foot inward and outward with mild pain
- 20—Can fully point foot away from and towards your knee and can turn foot inward and outward with moderate pain
- 10—Can fully point foot away and toward your knee but cannot turn foot inward or outward
- 0—Cannot fully point foot away from or toward your knee
Weight bearing: Please rate your ability to bear weight on your injured side - 40—No limitations
- 30—Can walk on injured side, but running is impaired
- 20—Can stand on injured side alone, but walking is impaired
- 10—Cannot stand on injured side alone, and walking is impaired
- 0—All activities are performed without weight bearing on the injured side
Assistive devices: Please rate your need for assistive devices - 50—No need for assistance
- 40—Use a brace for physical activities
- 30—Use a brace only for community walking
- 20—Use a brace & cane/crutch for walking in the home
- 10—Use a cane/crutch for all activity
- 0—Wear a brace and use a cane/crutch at all times
Swelling: Mark the lowest activity level which causes swelling - 40—Only after sporting activities
- 30—After standing or walking >30 minutes
- 20—After standing or walking <30 minutes
- 10—After sitting, i.e. at a desk
- 0—At all times
The related scoring in the example of the initial assessment in
Stop Here: Your score is 30 or less, ***STOP***. Go to Exercise Program Phase 1. DO NOT continue with the rest of this assessment.
Continuing with
The system will move the user to additional assessments to evaluate specific functional and physical capacities and capability related to a separate area of the program shown in
Please answer the following questions regarding your ability to perform Activities of Daily Living (ADL).
Walking: Please walk using a normal foot & ankle motion and normal speed
-
- 50—Unlimited on all surfaces
- 40—Limited to I mile on incline and uneven surfaces
- 30—Limited to 1 mile on flat, even surfaces
- 20—Limited to less than ¼ mile on flat surfaces
- 10—Limited to less than 100 yards
- 0—Can't walk because of pain
Stairs: Please rate your ability to go up and down stairs - 40—Climbing up and down is normal with minimal pain
- 30—Climbing up is normal, down is limited
- 20—Climbing up and down is limited
- 10—Need assistance to climb up/down stairs
- 0—Cannot climb stairs
Squatting: Squat down, you may allow your heels to rise off of the floor if necessary except on the 1st test - 40—Full squat with symmetrical weight bearing without assistance
- 30—Full squat with compensation of weight bearing to non-painful side
- 20—Full squat with assistance to stand up
- 10—½ squat without compensation or assistance
- 0—Cannot squat
Balance: Do not use hand support, look straight ahead and stand only on the injured side. Use thick pillows for this test - 40—Can stand on 2 bed pillows for 1 minute, looking straight ahead
- 30—Can stand on 1 pillow for 1 minute, looking straight ahead
- 20—Can stand on the floor for 1 minute, looking straight ahead
- 10—Can stand on the floor for 30-60 seconds while looking downward
- 0—Cannot stand on injured side for 30 seconds
Strength: Use light hand support for balance and standing on the injured foot, keep your knee straight throughout the test - 40—Perform 20-30 heel lifts, lifting all the way up onto the ball of your foot
- 30—Perform 10-19 heel lifts
- 20—Perform 5-9 heel lifts
- 10—Perform 1-4 heel lifts
- 0—Cannot lift heel completely off of the ground
Strength: Standing, place your injured side heel on a 4-inch box about 10 inches in front of you - 40—Able to lift the front of your foot while keeping your heel down over 40 times
- 30—Perform 30-39 times
- 20—Perform 20-29 times
- 10—Perform 10-19 times
- 0—Perform 0-9 times
Running: Please rate your ability to run using a normal foot action - 40—Can run, pivot and cut with mild discomfort
- 30—Can run straight ahead only with mild discomfort
- 20—Can run with a modified running pattern but painful
- 10—Can hop on one foot but painful
- 0—Cannot run/hop because of pain and/or limited motion
An example of Ankle Scoring is as follows:
0-30=Phase 1
40-140=Phase 2
150-280=Phase 3
290-470=Phase 4
Over 470=Phase 5
At step 214, the system uses algorithms in order to evaluate assessment based on the specific area, condition, dates between assessments and other data. At step 216, the process of providing the user with a program continues based on the appropriate phase rating of care to be provided to the user, which is discussed in detail below with reference to
Referring now to
-
- Introduction
- Information for Area-Ankle
- Maintain Balance/Strength/ROM range of motion
- ICE as in cold how long and how many days
- Information for Area—Foot
- Protection
- Exercise
Referring now to
Referring now to
The foregoing detailed description of the invention has been presented for purposes of illustration and description. It is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise form disclosed. Many modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teaching. The described embodiments were chosen in order to best explain the principles of the invention and its practical application to thereby enable others skilled in the art to best utilize the invention in various embodiments and with various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated.
Claims
1. A method for assessment of a user, the method comprising the steps of:
- determining a criteria of interest of the user, the criteria of interest including at least one of medical condition, age, physical capacity goal, and available exercise equipment;
- electronically providing to the user at least one required physical action based on the criteria of interest;
- obtaining an evaluation of the user's physical capacity based on a response related to performance of the required physical action; and
- automatically determining at least one exercise protocol based on the evaluation.
2. The method according to claim 1 wherein the criteria of interest in the step of determining is the medical condition.
3. The method according to claim 1 wherein the criteria of interest in the step of determining is the age.
4. The method according to claim 1 wherein the criteria of interest in the step of determining is the physical capacity goal.
5. The method according to claim 1 wherein the criteria of interest in the step of determining is the available exercise equipment.
6. The method of claim 1 further comprising:
- generating a post surgical exercise protocol using time based evaluations that occur post surgery.
7. The method according to claim 6 wherein the step of generating the post surgical exercise protocol includes the step of reevaluating the criteria of interest.
8. The method according to claim 6 further including the step of providing a care plan for the user to follow prior to surgical action.
9. The method according to claim 6 further including the step of providing a care plan for the user to follow after surgical action.
10. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of gathering each response through a portable communication device.
11. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of gathering each response using a remote connection to a central location, wherein the remote connection is through a virtual private network established over the Internet.
12. The method of claim 1 further comprising repeating at least one time the steps of electronically providing, obtaining and automatically determining and wherein the patient is provided with information sufficient to illustrate performance over time relative to previous results and an updated exercise protocol.
13. The method of claim 1 further including the step of storing the user's related demographical information and medical history.
14. The method according to claim 1 further including the step of reevaluating the user's physical capacity by repeating at least one time the steps of electronically providing, obtaining and automatically determining in order to provide the user with an updated exercise protocol.
15. The method according to claim 1 further including the step of providing a care plan for the user to follow.
16. A method for determining an assessment for a user, the method comprising the steps of:
- determining a criteria of interest of the user, the criteria of interest including at least one of medical condition, age, physical capacity goal, and available exercise equipment;
- electronically providing to the user at least one required physical action based on the criteria of interest;
- obtaining a response related to performance of the required physical action; and
- determining the assessment that will assist in evaluating the user, the assessment including a plurality of questions, and wherein the plurality of questions include at least one question that is based upon the response related to the performance of the required physical activity.
17. The method according to claim 16 further comprising the steps of:
- transmitting, from a central location to a remote location, the assessment;
- recording, from the remote location, the answers to each of the plurality of questions; and
- determining, based upon the answers and an algorithm that includes weights attributed to at least certain ones of the answers, a result of the assessment, wherein the result of the assessment includes a plurality of exercises directed toward improving the physical condition.
18. The method of claim 17 further comprising repeating a plurality of times the steps of transmitting, recording, and determining.
19. The method according to claim 18 wherein the result from the step of determining is obtained a plurality of times and further including the step of presenting the user with information sufficient to illustrate performance over time that includes the results.
20. The method according to claim 19, wherein substantially different results will result in a different plurality of exercises being determined.
21. The method according to claim 18, after the steps of transmitting, recording, and determining are repeated the plurality of times, further including the steps of:
- re-testing at least one of functional capability and physical capacity of the user at the remote location, and wherein at least some of the results from the re-testing are electronically recorded and transmitted to the central location; and
- determining, at the central location, using at least the re-testing results and predetermined algorithms that relate test results to conditions, a revised assessment of the user's condition.
22. The method according to claim 17 further including the step of electronically communicating to the remote location the result of the assessment.
23. The method according to claim 16 wherein the step of determining the assessment is performed in substantially real-time.
24. The method according to claim 16 further including the step of updating the assessment to obtain an updated assessment, the updated assessment based upon the assessment and updated information.
25. The method according to claim 24 wherein the updated information is related to the criteria of interest.
26. A method for a user to self-determine at least one exercise protocol comprising the steps of:
- determining a criteria of interest of the user, the criteria of interest including at least one of medical condition, age, physical capacity goal, and available exercise equipment;
- providing to the user at least one required physical action based on the criteria of interest;
- providing to the user a self-assessment to evaluate the user, the assessment including a plurality of questions based on a response related to performance of the required physical action; and
- providing to the users based on the self-assessment, an exercise protocol based on the criteria of interest.
27. The method according to claim 26 wherein each of the steps of providing are implemented using a computer.
28. The method according to claim 26 further including the step of updating the assessment to obtain an updated assessment, the updated assessment based upon the assessment and updated information.
Type: Application
Filed: Jan 25, 2007
Publication Date: May 24, 2007
Inventors: James Killin (San Jose, CA), Paul Christensen (San Jose, CA)
Application Number: 11/627,264
International Classification: G06Q 10/00 (20060101); A63B 71/00 (20060101);