Health IT

Why it’s now more likely a video game will be your physical therapist

Last week, Reflexion Health got 510(k) clearance for a physical therapy platform to help people […]

Last week, Reflexion Health got 510(k) clearance for a physical therapy platform to help people recovering from hip and knee replacement surgery guide users through their prescribed exercises and transmit that data to their therapists and physicians.

BioGaming is another company which makes use of Microsoft Kinect motion capture software. This week, it launched its platform, which received a CE Mark from European regulators. Like Reflexion Health and Jintronix, it’s seeking FDA clearance so that physical therapists can prescribe its product in the U.S.

It is part of a growing number of companies that view gamification as a way to make tedious, painful exercises more engaging to improve adherence.

“Adherence to traditional physiotherapy approaches is painfully low, and boring routines often demotivate patients and fail to improve patient health as intended,” said Dudi Klein, founder and CEO of BioGaming said in a statement. “We’re taking the proven physiotherapy routines, real-time biofeedback and personal encouragement of sessions in the hospital or clinic and bringing it home. It closes the gaps in the current physiotherapy process to boost adherence, transform the therapy cost equation for providers, and empower our customers to deliver better patient outcomes.”

This week, physiotherapists in Europe and Israel could start prescribing its platform to patients for at-home use, supported with apps for iOS and Android networks to help patients communicate with their therapists.

Microsoft began making its Kinect software platform available to startups through an accelerator in 2012. One healthcare startup that was one of the first to benefit was Canadian company Jintronix. It uses Kinect as part of a program for patients recovering from a stroke. The company, which also has offices in Seattle, got FDA clearance for its device in May last year. It is in the process of expanding its target patient population to include people recovering from ACL injuries.

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