Going to a physiotherapist or sports medicine doctor can be beneficial for many patients, but when these practitioners recommend different exercises for patients to try at home before their next appointment, the patients don’t always remember how to do them correctly.
That’s where healthSwapp, the latest pitch on BNN’s The Disruptors, comes in. healthSwapp is a mobile and web application that allows rehabilitation practitioners like physiotherapists and orthopedic surgeons to communicate with their patients by sending and tracking the progress of their patients’ home exercise programs. The app consists of two components: it allows practitioners to access information and prescribe exercises to their patients, and on the other end, patients can access the practitioner’s recommendations and understand how to perform the exercises better.
“Our long-term goal is to make it really simple and fun for patients to do their exercises at home.”
– Maggie Bergeron
“I started healthSwapp because I’m a physiotherapist and I was getting frustrated with none of my patients doing their exercises or understanding what they were supposed to be doing,” said Maggie Bergeron, a co-founder of healthSwapp. “Our long-term goal is to make it really easy for practitioners to prescribe exercises to their patients and really simple and fun for patients to do their exercises at home.”
Bergeron was an organizer of one of TechToronto’s offshoot events, HealthTO, which launched in July and is held bimonthly to encourage collaboration between startups and large organizations working in the healthcare industry.
Disruptors co-host Bruce Croxon said healthSwapp is another example of people finding solutions to problems in the healthcare sector. “Another good example of a problem being solved. The second biggest problem about the lack of progress on physio is that we’re just lazy people. So if that app is something that comes out and gets you going when you weren’t doing your exercises, then it’d be a home run,” said Croxon.
BetaKit is a production partner on The Disruptors. Tune in to BNN every Thursday night at 7pm for full episodes!