Study: Mobile app aids recovery of elderly people with hip fractures and helps their caregivers

ActiveHip+ is a multidisciplinary intervention delivered through a mobile application. Designed as part of a European project led by UGR lecturer Patrocinio Ariza Vega, its purpose is to facilitate the recovery of elderly people who have suffered a hip fracture. It is also intended for use by informal caregivers, such as family members.

The app offers a three-month health education program together with a rehabilitation program that includes occupational therapy and physical exercise. Everything is managed through the app, which is linked to a website where health care professionals can monitor their patients' progress. This approach allows patients to recover at home, without having to travel to hospital, while receiving constant support from health care professionals.

Carmen's experience

Carmen is a patient who fell at home while getting out of bed and suffered a hip fracture that forced her to temporarily give up her daily routine. She liked to get up early in the morning and go for a walk with two friends, but that day in June everything changed.

Unbearable pain prevented her from getting up from the floor and she was taken by ambulance to hospital, where it was confirmed that she had fractured her hip. The operation went well, but from what she knew of other people who had broken their hips, she believed she would be unable to do everything she used to do and that she would be a burden to her husband and daughter.

"However, her story took a positive turn, thanks in part to ActiveHip+," explains Rafael Prieto Moreno, one of the researchers involved in the project.

Using the app, Carmen was able to follow an intervention tailored to her needs. Her daughter Ana played a key role throughout the process as the contact person who supported Carmen in the use of ActiveHip+. "The app helps patients to not feel alone, and with basic things like getting dressed or getting out of bed," says Ana. In Carmen's case, she regained her mobility and the desire to walk with her friends in the mornings.

Now, at 84, she is once again enjoying her daily routine, doing the activities she loves and proving that, with the right support, it is possible to overcome even the most difficult challenges. In Carmen's words, "You have to make an effort and do a little bit every day, even if you don't feel like it, because exercise helps you to recover."

ActiveHip+ has not only helped Carmen to regain her routine and social life, but has given hope to many other older people facing recovery from a hip fracture. This digital health intervention is transforming the approach to rehabilitation.

The effects of ActiveHip+ have been outlined in a study published in the journal eClinicalMedicine.

The study highlights the benefits of the ActiveHip+ intervention, which not only facilitates physical recovery, but also improves the patient's emotional well-being by allowing them to return to their life before the fracture, as in Carmen's case, thus reducing the burden on their caregivers.