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Effectiveness of telerehabilitation on upper limb functionality in women after breast cancer treatment: A systematic review of randomized clinical trials
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DOI：10.1177/1357633x261469958.png)
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Abstract
En 中文
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<jats:title>Introduction</jats:title>
<jats:p>To systematically evaluate the effectiveness of telerehabilitation on upper limb functional disability, muscle strength, and range of motion among women treated for breast cancer.</jats:p>
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<jats:title>Methods</jats:title>
<jats:p>PubMed, CINAHL, Web of Science, and EMBASE were searched for articles published up to April 2026. Randomized controlled trials evaluating telerehabilitation interventions for upper limb dysfunction following breast cancer treatment were included. Two reviewers independently performed data extraction and risk of bias assessment using the Cochrane RoB 2 tool. Certainty of evidence was appraised using the GRADE approach.</jats:p>
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<jats:title>Results</jats:title>
<jats:p>Eleven randomized controlled trials (N = 883) were included. Telerehabilitation delivery was heterogeneous, including asynchronous apps, multidimensional platforms, and telephone support. For functional disability (eight studies, n = 672), most trials reported within-group improvements, but between-group differences were generally non-significant (low certainty evidence). For muscle strength (five studies, n = 321) and shoulder range of motion (three studies, n = 239), gains were comparable to control groups (moderate certainty evidence). The superiority of telerehabilitation was only observed in isolated trials utilizing highly interactive systems (e.g. motion-capture feedback) compared to passive controls.</jats:p>
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<jats:title>Conclusion</jats:title>
<jats:p>Telerehabilitation shows potential as a feasible and promising modality to support post-breast cancer upper limb recovery, particularly when incorporating interactive technologies. However, its definitive clinical equivalence or superiority remains unproven, primarily because remote modalities are frequently compared against clinically active controls, and the current body of evidence is limited by high intervention heterogeneity. Future research requires well-powered non-inferiority trials and clearly defined control arms to isolate the specific effects of remote technological delivery.</jats:p>
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