Taxonomy for the Rehabilitation of Knee Conditions (TRAK), a Digital Intervention to Support the Self-Care Components of Anterior Cruciate Ligament Rehabilitation: Protocol of a Feasibility Study

BACKGROUND: Rupture of the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is common, especially in the active population. In defining the problem of ACL rehabilitation, this study draws from the knowledge that improved self-care, strength, and fitness are associated with better outcomes. Traditional rehabilitation involves regular physiotherapy, but it is not clear what the optimal way for delivering rehabilitation is, and it varies widely across the world. Evidence for treatments are discussed in the literature, however standard length of rehabilitation and frequency of appointments are unknown. Additionally, current rehabilitation models in the National Health Service (NHS) struggle with catering to large volumes of patients and the lengthy time span over which rehabilitation is delivered. The use of eHealth (the Internet in health care) has been successful at delivering behavior change to a number of diverse patient groups. In physiotherapy, problems such as exercise compliance, exercise technique, and managing a broad program of rehabilitation and advice can be challenging. An eHealth intervention called Taxonomy for the Rehabilitation of Knee Conditions (TRAK) to support self-management and behavior change has been developed by patients and clinicians, and acceptability studies have yielded positive results. TRAK is not an exercise rehabilitation protocol; it is a tool to support ACL rehabilitation with personalized plans, prompts, and logs to help adherence and videos and instructions to improve quality and address queries. The patients have their own log-ins and can email their physiotherapist through the website. This novel platform is directly in line with current NHS England, National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, and NHS Improvement agendas that call for rehabilitation initiatives using both technology and supported self-management for patients. This study forms part of a research platform to identify a best practice model of ACL care from the literature and opinions of key stakeholders. Patients’ exercise programs and duration of treatment are still based on individual needs, but use of the website may offer improved self-management and function and reduced health resource use. OBJECTIVE: This is a feasibility study to establish recruitment, retention, sample size estimates, and practicality of collecting outcome measures to inform a future trial comparing the TRAK intervention, which has been rigorously designed to address the challenges of ACL rehabilitation, to usual care. METHODS: This is a feasibility study comparing 2 groups: standard care and standard care plus eHealth. It will use convergent parallel mixed methods where both qualitative and quantitative data are sought for a more thorough understanding of the objectives. Primary outcomes relate to feasibility, including recruitment, retention, and usage. Secondary outcomes relate to health resource use and patient-rated outcome measures. RESULTS: This research expects to establish the feasibility of a full-scale randomized controlled trial to explore whether patients who use an eHealth intervention to support ACL rehabilitation have better outcomes plus improved self-efficacy and reduced health resource use than a usual care group. CONCLUSIONS: The study will provide essential information to support the development and powering of a future clinical trial of eHealth and physiotherapy for patients with ACL reconstruction in the NHS.