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Mend
Physical Therapy System
Project Overview
Challenge
Physical Therapy patients try their best to recover from their injuries, but sometimes just lack the motivation to do their home exercises. Physical Therapists have no control over the patient's effort at home and this can affect their overall recovery time.
Patients and Therapists need to build strong relationships in order to trust each other and create intrinsic need to recover and follow patient programs. I set out to discover how we can help patients.
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Mend is a wearable system and app that connects the patient to their program and therapist. It helps patients get involved in their treatment and inspires them to take control of their health.
Solution
Team
Timeline
Solo
2 semester Thesis
My Role
User and Market Researcher, System Designer, UX Designer, Industrial Designer
Tools
How might we increase patient ownership and understanding in their recovery in order to increase compliance?
Phase 1- Research
Compliance
The act of doing something you have been asked or ordered to do.
As it pertains to Physical Therapy, compliance refers to the physical
exercises that patients are expected to perform both in sessions and
on their own time. This also includes leading a healthy lifestyle.
70%
70% of PT patients do not attend all of their scheduled appointments.
70%
70% of PT patients do not follow their home program to full extent.
Survey
41 participants, Anonymous
Key Findings
Patients said they were very interested in recovery.
All patients said their therapist was very supportive.
Yet, there was a lack of commitment in completing their home programs.
Personal Interviews
7 participants, Age 15-76
Participants had to have attended Physical Therapy within the past 5 years. They were asked a series of questions to understand their recovery, what the process was like, and how they worked with a Physical Therapist.
Affinity Mapping
There was a disconnect between how much people enjoyed PT recovery and the amount of outside work they put into their own recovery.
Positives
"She explained the muscular systems and the benefits of each exercise so I could understand."
-Don, 53
"The PT worked with me to find out what the cause of the problem was before fixing anything."
-Kathryn, 52
"I continued with stretches after PT, and was able to see continued results."
-John, 54
Negatives
"Most exercises were difficult or painful, so I didn't want to do them."
-Joanna, 15
"My PT was effective, but I didn't get much out of it because I was lazy."
-Don, 53
"I was doing great with my home program, until I skipped once. I started to slip after that."
-Sandra, 76
Personal Interviews
7 participants, Age 15-76
Key Findings
Patients liked being empowered to understand their health and recovery.
Patients are left to their own motivation at home.
The connection from Patient-to-Therapist gives patients social support.
Contextual Inquiry
Kathryn, 52
I was able to follow one participant, Kathryn, into an Orthopedic appointment and Physical Therapy appointment for a shoulder and bicep injury. I observed the patient both in context at the appointments, but also into the home a few times to see the difference.
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In particular, Kathryn and her Physical Therapist had a good relationship. The Therapist gave her notes for her recovery, exercises for at home, and would ask for feedback about the treatment regimen.
The strength of these relationships determines the pace of recovery, level of motivation, communication, and compliance.
Building Relationships
Trust
Belief
Achievable
Guide
Knowledge
Progression
Behavior Change
The Physical Therapist must be able to take the perceptions of the patient and change them, whether it be about therapy or their own level of confidence.
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If a patient doesn’t believe in themselves or the program, then they will most likely not complete it to the best of their ability. This intrinsic belief drives them to achieve their goals.
1. Patients with high motivation and low ability need someone to guide them (PT).
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2. Patients with high motivation and ability only need a signal for them to get going and form habits.
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3. Patients with low motivation and high ability need to be pushed into completing what they need to.
Opportunities
Be able to give patients control in their recovery.
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Strengthen the relationship through data and proof of compliance.
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Allow PT to better track progress.
Barriers
Keeping Patients engaged.
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Keeping the Therapist an integral part of recovery.
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Translate information to be
understood by patients.
Phase 2- Define
Secondary Persona- Therapist
The Physical Therapist serves as a partner and teacher to the patient, and although they have needs, their job is to help the patient. Therapists mainly record the patients progress and adjusts their program based on the patients needs.
Goals
To provide quality care for their patients
Motivate them to be involved in their recovery
Wants
Easy access to workouts
Understanding of recovery
Control over their health
Needs
Feedback from PT
Motivation beyond their own
Avoid further injury
Proven completion of home program
The patient is the most important person in the physical therapy process. They are the main reason for physical therapy and the processes involved require the injuries and needs of the patient.
Goals
To recover from their injury as quickly as possible.
To get support when needed.
Primary Persona- The Patient
Wants
Time with patients
To know they are helping
More hard data
Needs
To reduce the amount of time with each patient, but keep communication.
To monitor form and strength in order to correct or modify
To record home data and track
Problem Statement
The Physical Therapy Patient needs a way to get more involved in the recovery process without taking more time for the PT in order to increase motivation to be active participants in their recovery.
Existing Technology
In conjunction with a group of engineers, I was given access to their accelerometer technology to measure body movements.
What it Does...
Measure muscle activation and ROM
How hard the muscle is working
Track number of exercise reps
Can be programmed for specific movements
Phase 3- Ideate
To start, I focused on core relationships of physical therapy and built outward to the individual needs and jobs.
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Sketching out rough ideas allowed me to explore lots of ideas and narrow down to several opportunities to move forward.
Market Research
First Round Sketches
Wearable Tech
The chosen concept was a wearable device that would be able to record patient movement and data as they exercise to allow them to see their progress throughout their time in PT. The device will be discreet and comfortable for everyday use.
Although rough, the concept needed continued refinement.
Phase 4- Iterate
Defining the System
The system needed to be defined in order to move forward with the device design.
How does the patient get the device?
Where will it be used?
Is the app it's own system?
Is it used in conjunction with other technology?
How will both the patient and therapist access data?
How does the device adapt to different programs?
What happens to device when PT is finished?
The System-First Draft
Sketching-Round 1
I explored many options for the device, looking specifically at how it would adjust and attach to the body. With the tech, I looked at how sensors could be placed and where.
Prototyping
From the sketches I tested out many different versions and how users would interact with them.
How do the sensors sit on the body?
Adjustability
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Integration of screens
Removable sensors
Refined Concept
Further Refined Sketches
App- Wireframing
First wireframes explored the screens and what info and layout would be needed on each.
Refined App- Wireflows
Refining the app added color and explored how information would be shown through graphs.
Phase 5- Final Design
User Storyboard
The interaction with the device and the app needed to fit seamlessly into people's lives. Patients would need to be taught how to use the device and app on their own.
From there, the device would record all movements and send reports back to the PT.
The PT could make adjustments as necessary without even seeing a patient in-person.
The app would allow PT and patient to have ongoing dialogue to keep motivation.
Final Design
Mend is a wearable technology designed for PT patients to help them understand their home exercises and give them insight into their recovery.
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Mend maps arm movement and measures arm strength and power for shoulder and arm injuries.
Features
What's Inside
For the main module, the internals were mapped out based on the relative size of the elements.
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Apple watch was used for a close scale comparison.
The Mend Experience
The Final Model
The Model was made of the main module, sculpted from foam, and the sewn neoprene band. This served as a physical representation of the Mend product.
Where to Next?
Focus on the App Experience and create a full experience for both Patient and PT.
Go through the design process as it relates to the Mend app and test with users to focus on features they want.
Look into the manufacturing of the Mend device and take it to production.
Thinking Larger
This product could be taken to market with a bit more work and research into health guidelines and manufacturing. With the wake of COVID-19, the Mend Physical Therapy system could be a good alternative to meeting in-person. It could increase the safety of older patients and at-risk patients while helping PT's do their jobs from home and continue to provide care. Although it is not a solution to the COVID-19 problem, Mend offers alternatives and brings tele-medicine to the Physical Therapy world.
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