Comprehensive Summary
Sengupta et. al examined how long-term improvement in stroke patients is enhanced by early adherence to biofeedback. This biofeedback-based training would provide instantaneous feedback to improve the gait of stroke patients measured with the real-time adherence assessment metric (RAAM) and Minimum Foot Clearance (MFC), and this was completed with a program consisting of ten or more biofeedback treadmill sessions. From there, machine learning analyzed the data to predict outcomes based on adherence patterns. Across all study participants, patients that adhered to biofeedback treadmill training earlier especially for stroke patients because biofeedback incorporates not only retraining walking patterns but also improving gait symmetry, foot clearance, and more. This study builds on past therapeutic techniques that were installed to reduce fall risk and improve gait, showing that physical therapists now may need to adjust satrategies to improve outcomes. With this information about treadmill training, more resources should go into training with appropriate equipment, clinician supervision, and patient engagement, making sure to sure that care provided to patients is closely applicable for their needs. Future rehabilitation efforts should track adherence data early in order to improve recovery with personalized therapy plans.
Outcomes and Implications
More healthcare resources can be channeled into improving early adherence especially with its role as a prognostic indicator. Making sure patients can follow their treatment plan can prevent issues later in life and improve quality of life. Additionally, having more personalized rehabilitation strategies make sure that patients are truly benefited from the care they receive, making sure they stay safe by reducing falls. From there, clinical assessment can be more personalized, and providing more support for data-driven treatments would improve long-term outcomes and also lead to healthcare spending less on recurrent conditions. However, this study needs to be done with a larger sample size and with a diverse representative set of patients, following patients for longer periods of time to determine the holistic efficacy of this method.