A Study on the Effectiveness of Using Telepresence and Multiple Cameras in Remote Physical Therapy

The present research investigates the effectiveness of using a telepresence system compared to a video conferencing system and the effectiveness of using two cameras compared to one camera for remote physical therapy. The telepresence system that was used is Telegie, which allows users to see a place in 3D through a VR headset. Using two cameras with a video conferencing system allows users to see a place from multiple angles and provides additional spatial information. These two approaches of providing users additional spatial information were examined and compared in the context of remote physical therapy through a user study with 11 physical therapists who had subject matter expertise and 76 participants who acted as physical therapy patients. We conducted detailed interviews of therapists at the end of their participation. Results showed that none of the main effects of using telepresence and using two cameras were supported via t-tests. However, additional analyses using linear mixed models with individual differences of participants controlled revealed a marginally significant positive effect of using two cameras on assessment scores from the therapists. The findings of this paper indicate that video fidelity of remote communication systems matters and therefore suggest telepresence systems should provide sufficient video clarity. Spatial ability of patients was found as a strong predictor of therapist assessments.