Effectiveness of using a chatbot to promote adherence to home physiotherapy after total knee replacement, rationale and design of a randomized clinical trial

BACKGROUND: Rehabilitation is essential to optimize outcomes after surgical procedures in musculoskeletal disorders. However, adherence to rehabilitation continues to be an important barrier, since compliance with the programs is not always as desired, which may have a negative impact on clinical results. METHODS: Randomized controlled trial aimed at to determining the effectiveness of using a virtual assistant (i.e., chatbot) to promote adherence to home rehabilitation. Overall, seventy patients under 75, undergoing total knee replacement, who have a personal smartphone and are familiar with its use, will be assigned into the control (standard care) or the experimental (standard care plus virtual assistant) group. Adherence (primary outcome) will be assessed three months after surgery. The WOMAC questionnaire, knee pain and system usability scale will be also outcomes of interest at three months and one year. Overall, an analysis of variance will look for possible time, group and time*group interactions. DISCUSSION: The expected result is to determine whether the use of a chatbot that interacts with the patient can increase adherence to post-surgical home physiotherapy, and result in better clinical results (functional and pain) than standard care. TRIAL REGISTRATION: clinicaltrials.gov id. NCT05363137 SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12891-023-06607-3.