Remote follow-up: what it can and cannot replace
Scheduled video reviews that adjust the home programme — useful for progression and technique, not a substitute for hands-on therapy.
Follow-up by video is now standard after international rehabilitation. It is genuinely useful within limits that are worth stating.
What it consists of
A scheduled review in which the patient performs parts of the home programme on camera, technique is corrected, and the programme is progressed or reduced against what has actually been happening.
It is also where a plateau gets identified early enough to do something about, rather than at the next in-person visit months later.
What it cannot replace
Anything requiring hands: tone assessment, joint mobilisation, fitting or adjusting an orthosis, and the fine correction of gait. A camera shows the shape of a movement, not the resistance in it.
It also cannot replace local therapy where local therapy is available. Remote follow-up is a supplement to continuity, not a substitute for it.
Questions to ask before booking
How often, with whom — the treating clinician or a different one — for how long, and what happens if the review shows the programme is not working.
A follow-up schedule with no mechanism for changing the plan is a check-in, not a review.
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