Lakeside Physiotherapy: a home exercise app for patients

The problem

A patient leaves the treatment room with a printed sheet of exercises and a good intention. By the weekend the sheet is in a drawer, they cannot remember how deep to bend the knee, and the next visit starts with going over what they forgot.

What we built

For our sample clinic, Lakeside Physiotherapy, we would build a phone app that shows each patient the exercises their physiotherapist chose for them, explains each one in plain words and lets them tick off every set.

Problem and answer

• The paper sheet gets lost, or the patient cannot remember how to do an exercise.

  Each exercise has a short how to in three plain steps and a note on what to watch for. It is on the phone they already carry.

• The physiotherapist has no idea whether the exercises were done between visits.

  Patients tick off each set as they finish it, and the physiotherapist sees the ticks before the next visit.

• Patients ring the front desk with a small question and wait for a call back.

  A message button sends the question to their own physiotherapist, with a few common topics ready to tap.

• Visits are forgotten or moved at the last minute.

  The next visit sits on its own screen. The patient confirms it with one tap or asks for a different time.

How it works

1. 01The physiotherapist picks the exercises for a patient at the end of the visit, and sets the sets and reps.
2. 02The patient gets a text with a link. Their exercises open on their phone, with nothing to install.
3. 03Each day they open an exercise, read the steps, and tap each set as they finish it.
4. 04They can see the next visit, confirm it, or send the clinic a message.
5. 05The physiotherapist looks over the ticks and messages before the next appointment and changes the plan if needed.

Works with

• Google Calendar, so the next visit shown to the patient matches the clinic's calendar
• A text message service, for the link and the visit reminders
• The clinic's existing patient records program, if it has one, by sharing a plain list of exercises
• Email, so messages from patients can also land in the clinic's inbox

The plan we would follow

1. Week 1We sit with the physiotherapists, learn which exercises they hand out most, and agree what the patient needs to see.
2. Weeks 2 and 3We write each how to in plain words, and build the screens and the way the physiotherapist picks exercises.
3. Week 4A few patients and the physiotherapists try it, and we fix what confuses anyone.
4. Week 5We connect the calendar, texts and messages, and check it on older phones and with larger text.
5. Week 6Launch, with a short walk through for the clinic and a one page guide for patients.

What the owner keeps

• The app and every exercise and instruction in it
• The accounts for texts and calendar, all in the clinic's own name
• Every patient message and tick, held by the clinic and never by us