Inova Partners With Tech Company to Improve Physical Therapy Results
Data drives KinometriX sensor
Monika Stolze, Program Manager for Adult Therapy Services at Inova Loudoun Hospital’s Outpatient Specialty Rehabilitation Center, tests out the KinometriX sensor on athletic trainer Janna Ward.
Imagine you had knee surgery. Everything went well and you’re back home. Of course, your physical therapist (PT) recommended a therapy treatment plan — which includes exercises at home as well as with your therapist at a physical therapy clinic. In an ideal world, you follow your PT’s directions, and you’re headed for a remarkable recovery.
“Following your PT’s instructions isn’t always easy,” emphasizes Mike Thomas, Co-Director of the Inova Personalized Health Accelerator (IPHA), a program looking to invest capital in companies with early-stage technologies that are of strategic interest to Inova.
Enter KinometriX. To work around noncompliance, Thomas and the IPHA team recently partnered with this Maryland-based company and developer of a platform to track patients’ physical therapy progress and hopefully keep them engaged in their rehabilitation process. “Life gets busy, and physical therapy sessions get canceled. Some patients stop exercising because progress is often so gradual they don’t even realize they’re improving,” Thomas says.
Accelerating the Goal
How does KinometriX work? Simply put, the patient finds a convenient time to put a small sensor over their injured joint — similar to positioning a wireless-enabled wearable activity tracker. Next the patient performs their exercise treatment plan, such as kicking the leg up and down as fast as possible 10 times. The sensors, powered by artificial intelligence algorithms, collect motion data, which are uploaded to KinometriX’s cloud platform. There the data are analyzed for key metrics, including range of motion, speed of motion, fatigue and neuromuscular control.
Tapping into the KinometriX app, patients as well as their physical therapist and healthcare provider can review real-time data and measure improvements. Specific to the patient, this data can help predict treatment progress or point to a need for plan adjustments.
A Promising Test Drive
Currently, Inova Loudoun Hospital (ILH) is working with KinometriX. “Everything is in the early research and development phase,” Thomas says. “We’re refining the system’s existing algorithms and collecting clinician feedback, which will help us perfect the platform. We’re already excited about the potential here.”
As Program Manager for Adult Therapy Services at ILH’s Outpatient Specialty Rehabilitation Center, Monika Stolze, DPT, sees positive patient reactions to the KinometriX platform. “Putting user-friendly data at our patient’s fingertips keeps them involved in their rehabilitation. They’re part of the process — instead of being passive recipients of care. We think this will increase compliance.”
With patients able to collect data at home, when it’s convenient, Thomas suspects that this, too, may inspire maximum patient follow-through with a clinician therapy plan. “It’s our hope that having access to objective, real-time data — without needing to schedule quite so many clinic appointments — will encourage patients to stick to their rehabilitation therapy,” he says.
Also, the KinometriX platform, based on artificial intelligence that presents immediate data, represents the next generation in healthcare. “We currently have the means to assess everything KinometriX measures, but it has to be done in the clinic,” Stolze says. “This platform represents the future, and what clinicians as well as patients expect.”
KinometriX and Inova: A Strong Union
KinometriX is an ideal example of an Inova Personalized Health Accelerator (IPHA) candidate, with the KinometriX team working with IPHA as well as Inova leaders to further develop and refine this innovative technology. If successful, this new technology should provide better outcomes to Inova patients.
By offering access to Inova, IPHA plans to attract leading healthcare entrepreneurs, investors and researchers, Mike Thomas, Director of IPHA, says. These unions will ultimately bring unique expertise to Inova’s ever-progressing quest to better evaluate, develop and implement technology solutions that add value to Inova’s operations, improve outcomes and keep Inova at the vanguard of healthcare innovation.
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