Remotely controlled cycling exercise system for home-based telerehabilitation

Limited research has been conducted in utilizing telemedicine to promote upper and lower limb rehabilitation using remotely controlled home-based ergometers. The goal of this study was to develop and assess a telerehabilitation system supporting internet-controlled home-based cycling exercise. We designed an interface to control cycling speed of an ergometer from a remote server via Internet. The evaluation of the interface included consecutive transmission of 7 different cycling speed levels, each level of 2-minute duration. Overall, the mean difference between remotely setup and actual cycling speed was 0.002±0.03 miles/hour. Our evaluation demonstrated high fidelity of the proposed system and reliability of controlling individualized exercise prescription for home-based cycling equipment via Internet.