A Critique of the Lack of Remote Rehabilitation Services Before and After the COVID-19 Epidemic in Iran

Abstract

In the wake of the COVID-19 epidemic, governments resorted to severe restrictions, such as social distancing and the closure of some government agencies, education, and self-employment, to prevent its spread. In the meantime, many outpatients referred to daily rehabilitation clinics were forced to refuse to go to outpatient centers due to the closure of the centers, fear of infection, and strict observance of health protocols. This factor led to the regression of patients and failure to follow their daily treatments; therefore, this study investigates the lack of telerehabilitation services before and after the COVID-19 epidemic in Iran. This study was a review using the PRISMA method, including researches published from 2019 to 2021 with the keywords of ‘remote rehabilitation,’ ‘COVID-19’, and ‘Iran,’ which was done in PubMed, Scopus, Google Scholar, Jihad Daneshgahi, Magiran, and Iranduc scientific information bases. In reviewing the studies, 96 articles were obtained and finally, by studying their abstracts, 12 articles were selected. During the pandemic, most rehabilitation issues were transferred from rehabilitation institutions to caregivers. With the guidance of rehabilitation experts (online or video communication), patients and caregivers can pursue rehabilitation based on breathing, stretching, and strengthening at home. Sometimes it was more advantageous for them to provide and receive training videos from online workshops to practice.According to these documents, the benefits, limitations, and current evidence base can be described, as well as future implications and recommendations for telerehabilitation. Lack of Internet access or poor Internet access can be a limitation of telerehabilitation, leading to disconnection or non-participation in the program.