Table 1 Excerpt of the Ontology Requirements Specification Document defined for our ontology

1.

Purpose

The purpose of the TrhOnt ontology is to provide a reference model for the representation of the physiotherapy-related information that is needed for the whole physiotherapy treatment of a patient, since they step for the first time into the physiotherapist’s office, until they are discharged.

2.

Scope

The ontology will focus on physiotherapy issues related to the glenohumeral joint.

3.

Implementation language

The ontology has to be implemented in a formalism that allows classification of classes and realization between instances and classes.

4.

Intended Users

∙User 1: Physiotherapists

5.

Intended uses

∙Use 1: To record and search information about the items that compose the physiotherapy

record of a patient.

∙Use 2: To help the process of defining general treatment protocols for a specific disorder, by

selecting the exercises that must be performed in each phase of the protocol.

∙Use 3 To help the process of identifying in which phase of a treatment protocol a patient is at

some specific moment.

∙Use 4: To identify which exercises are most suitable for a patient at some specific moment

given all the information that it is known about him.

6.

Ontology requirements

(6.a) Non-functional requirements (not applicable)

(6.b) Functional requirements: Groups of competency questions

∙CQG1: Physiotherapy record-related competency questions:

−CQ1.1: What is the patient’s age?

−CQ1.2: Which health issue does the patient report?

−CQ1.3: Which are the patient’s recovery goals?

−CQ1.4: How much pain does the patient report on the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS)?

−CQ1.5: Which results are obtained from the exploration of the joint movement of the

patient?

−CQ1.6: What is the physiotherapy diagnostics of the patient?

−CQ1.7: Which is the family and personal past history of the patient?

−…

∙CQG2: Body-related competency questions:

−CQ2.1: Which are the body parts that compose a more general body part?

−CQ2.2: Which is the laterality of a specific body part?

−…

∙CQG3: Treatment protocol-related competency questions:

−CQ3.1: Which is the type of a movement?

−CQ3.2: Which body part does a movement refer to?

−CQ3.3: Which range of movement does a movement cover?

−CQ3.4: Which movements compose an exercise?

−CQ3.5: Which exercises compose a phase of a treatment protocol?

−CQ3.6: Which are the conditions that an exercise must fulfill to be a candidate exercise for

a phase of a treatment protocol?

−…

∙CQG4: General competency questions:

−CQ4.1: Which are the conditions that a patient must fulfill in order to be in a phase of a

treatment protocol?

−CQ4.2: Which phase is a patient in?

−CQ4.3: Which exercises are recommended for a patient at some specific moment?

−CQ4.4: Which exercises are contraindicated for a patient at some specific moment?

−CQ4.5: Which exercises do patients usually perform badly?

−…

7.

Pre-glossary of terms

Patient, goal, joint, movement, exercise, …