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Background: Exercise therapy is central to the management of rheumatic diseases, yet its transfer into everyday life often remains limited. For long-term care co-ordinated in primary care, it is therefore relevant to understand which patients accept digital add-ons to physiotherapy and how such offers should be designed.

Aim/scientific question: We examined acceptance of digital adjuncts to exercise therapy, patient requirements, and—exploratorily—clinical characteristics of patients who may be particularly reachable for digitally supported continuation of exercise therapy.

Material & Methods: Cross-sectional survey in two rheumatology specialist practices. We assessed previous experience with physiotherapy, home exercises, openness to app- or video-based support, and free-text requirements. Exploratory analyses examined associations with age, pain intensity, fatigue, functional capacity, and health-related quality of life.

Results: A total of 929 patients participated (69.2% female; mean age 54.1 ± 13.6 years). Previous physiotherapy was reported by 59.3%. Of those, only 28.7% described a clear long-term benefit; 68.6% had received home exercises, but only 62.3% carried them out regularly over several weeks. Overall, 59.9% were open, or at least somewhat open, to a digital adjunct. Openness was associated with younger age (&rho; = -0.14; p < 0.001) and greater fatigue (&rho; = 0.08; p = 0.011), but not with pain intensity. Free-text responses were dominated by requests for clear explanations, video guidance, and short, everyday-compatible exercise sequences.

Discussion: From a primary care perspective, these findings suggest a relevant role for digital exercise therapy as a bridge between time-limited physiotherapy and long-term self-management. Notably, openness to digital adjuncts was associated with fatigue rather than pain. Digital interventions should therefore be implemented in ways that are both everyday-oriented and sensitive to symptom burden.

Take Home Message: In rheumatic diseases, digital exercise therapy may be particularly useful where fatigue and everyday demands hinder continuation of conventional physiotherapy. Short, clearly explained and flexibly usable modules are likely to be crucial for routine care.

Competing interests: None