At the Second All-Ukrainian Congress on Physical Therapy, Physiopedia’s Jorge Rodríguez shared with participants how artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming clinical decision-making, helping design management programmes and improving communication between professionals and patients and he encouraged discussion of the use of AI for the future of the profession.

The Second All-Ukrainian Congress on Physical Therapy gathered more than 400 professionals, including physical therapists, experts and Ukrainian and foreign speakers to discuss topical issues and share their experiences and best practices for 3 days in Lviv, Ukraine, in September 2024. The main goal of the event was to promote the professional development of specialists and raise the standards of rehabilitation services. During the event, the best Ukrainian and international experts shared their experience of physical therapy in neurology, orthopaedics, cardiology, paediatrics, and intensive care. Best practice in providing care in acute, post-acute and long-term rehabilitation periods were also discussed. The event was organised by the Ukrainian Physical Therapists Association and the CF “Patients of Ukraine” within the framework of the initiative “Rehabilitation of War Trauma in Ukraine”, with the support of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the Ukrainian Red Cross Society, the World Health Organization (WHO), UK AID, Zaporuka, Soleterre, Handicap International, the Embassy of Switzerland in Ukraine, as well as representatives of the European Union and Nova Ukraine.

As part of the expert international speaker team, Jorge Rodríguez, Implementation Specialist and Translation Manager at Physiopedia, was invited to speak and remotely presented on ‘AI in Physiotherapy: Revolutionising Rehabilitation’.

His presentation began with a brief overview of AI laying the foundation for its integration into the field of physiotherapy. Although the term was first introduced in the ’50s, it is in recent years that AI has had a more prominent impact on the scientific community – with >250,000 results for “artificial intelligence” in Pubmed over the last 3–4 years.  

“Artificial intelligence, or AI, is technology that enables computers and machines to simulate human intelligence and problem-solving capabilities” – IBM

Jorge illustrated through examples in his presentation how AI does in fact go beyond human simulation and that it is already transforming clinical decision-making, helping design management programmes and improving communication between professionals and patients; taking the Physiopedia AI Assistant as an example. He showed practical examples of how the AI Assistant can support in choosing therapeutic exercises, communicating with patients, clinical decision making and supporting clinical educators (you can find more practical examples in our YouTube playlist). He also covered some of the future clinical applications for AI in rehabilitation, including integration with electonic health records, robotic rehabilitation devices and remote patient monitoring.

“By 2049 AI will be a billion times smarter than the smartest human” – Mo Gawdat, Former Chief Business Officer at Google X

Jorge addressed the limitations of AI for rehabilitation, acknowledging that while it is a powerful tool, there are many considerations to take into account and he suggested 6 areas for rehabilitation professionals to consider when using AI:

Accuracy: An AI system is only as good as the information it draws from and it is often difficult to verify the quality of the sources and understand whether they are evidence-based, which is crucial in rehabiltiation practice. The Physiopedia AI Assistant is specifically trained on the evidence-based and trusted Physiopedia database to ensure that the system offers the best possible result.
Lack of skilled workforce: Physiotherapists are not traditionally trained in using AI efficiently. This is an important area to address since we know the use of AI can be significantly enhanced when the user understands the scope of the tool, is skilled in asking questions and follow up prompting and is able to educate others in getting the most out of the tools. Don’t miss the free upcoming Physiopedia MOOC on this very topic starting on Monday 7 October (register to join us).
Data security and privacy: This may be one of the most important issues, and every AI system is trying to deal with it at the moment. Jorge cautioned against sharing personal patient data and recommended reading privacy policies AI tools to ensure you comply with the requirement for the profession in your country.
Ethical considerations: Jorge discussed using AI appropriately and drew the participant’s attention back to core values and scope of the profession in guiding this.
Accessibility: As for all technology, not all professionals will be able to access AI systems, for example due to financial reasons or lack of internet connectivity. Physiopedia, as part of our mission, aims to provide free access to resources for those in low income countries and students to improve access to high quality tools regardless of circumstances.
Integration: Not all AI tools can be integrated into local systems and there are many advancements still to be made in this regard.

Jorge concluded his presentation by discussing the future of the profession and asked participants to reflect on the how physiotherapy will look in a few years time as AI develops further – what do you think?

Regardless of current opinions on AI, Jorge highlighted that this rapidly evolving field is here to stay and that AI will continue to evolve and play a crucial role in shaping rehabilitation practices in the future.