Rehabilitation company Reflexion Health Monday announced encouraging results from a randomised controlled clinical trial "Virtual Exercise Rehabilitation In-home Therapy: A Research Study (VERITAS)" conducted independently by the Duke Clinical Research Institute (DCRI), part of the Duke University School of Medicine.

VERITAS is the first large-scale randomised controlled clinical trial that compares virtual physical therapy with traditional physical therapy. It was designed to evaluate the cost and clinical non-inferiority of using a virtual rehabilitation platform to deliver physical therapy following total knee replacement (TKR) surgery, said the company.

In the study, VERA, the company's US FDA-cleared Virtual Exercise Rehabilitation Assistant, enabled a substantial reduction in post-acute costs and rehospitalisations, while being as effective as traditional physical therapy.

The VERITAS was a multi-centre, randomised controlled trial that enrolled 306 adult participants scheduled for TKR surgery at four US sites. The treatment group concluded with 143 adults who received the company's VERA both pre- and post-surgery, compared with a control group of 144 adults who received traditional in-home or clinic-based physical therapy at participating sites.

Clinical outcomes, health service use and costs were examined for three months after surgery. The safety endpoints for patients with virtual physical therapy were similar over traditional in-home or clinic-based physical therapy, added the company.

Additionally, the company's VERITAS study results demonstrated an average cost savings of USD2,745 per patient for those who received virtual physical therapy using VERA technology over usual care with traditional physical therapy.