Physical therapy is broken. Every year, over fifty percent of Americans over 18 develop a musculoskeletal injury that last longer than three months. With that number, you’d expect the physical therapy business to be booming, but clinics currently capture only 3% if their potential market. While this statistic may be surprising, it’s understandable. Nobody enjoys being injured, and very few look forward to their next trip to the PT office. It’s not a personal experience, and few see the value in spending time and money to go perform exercises they could do from the comfort of their home.

Kneuro is a new way of thinking about therapy. It’s a brand that repositions the therapy office as a place we actually want to go. It’s a product that enables patients to practice PT from the comfort of their home. And it’s a connected experience which engages patients, provides meaningful data and delivers a more personal experience. Kneuro is not simply a design solution, but an understanding of how businesses must adapt to shifting generational values in order to succeed.

Kneuro was initially inspired by my own time spent in the physical therapy, both as an intern and patient. In either case, the experience was never a favorable one. Wondering if this was the common perception of therapy I sought out to understand how people perceived PT. The project begin by conducting intensive research in and outside of therapy offices. Initially, a survey was devised to gain a cursory overview of mindsets around therapy. Personal interviews were then conducted with patients, practitioners and behavioral science professionals to gain a broader perspective of the problem from every angle.

This initial research provided the key areas of improvement to focus my design around. Kneuro became a project focused on rewriting the patient narrative. It was clear that physical therapy has not adapted to today’s consumers; who are demanding a more personal, tailored experience and expect complete flexibility. With this in mind, I focused on three specific areas, a product, a service and a connected experience.

The product aspect of Kneuro is Kneuro Knit. In short, Kneuro Knit is an actuated brace which adjust compression in response to muscle imbalances, and transmits recovery data to both patients and doctors. The concept of Kneuro Knit begin by forcasting wearable technology and envisioning a new wearable which not only tracked performance, but was able to restore movement and function. While the concept is somewhat conceptual, materials and emerging technologies were explored at length to ensure the products feasibility. The braces were designed to convey structure while still being minimally invasive. The packaging was also thoughtfully considered. Nobody is excited about opening a brace, so the packaging was designed to provide a more motivational experience.

The connected platform works in unison with the braces to monitor recovery. This allows patients and practitioners to track the healing progress. Other features of the connected experience include tailored video workout routines, detailed injury information and social media links which allow users to post their progress and stay motivated throughout the recovery process.

So where does this leave the PT office? Kneuro simply rebrands the PT office as a place we actually want to go. Kneuro is a place to connect, learn and to train. Only one in person consultation is required; however by leveraging the connected platform, Kneuro creates a community through which it can promote events to draw people back into the office.

In summary,

Kneuro brings physical therapy home, increasing course of care adherence.

Kneuro Knit enables patients and doctors to monitor recovery in detail.

Nano – Fibers allow for active bracing, which adjust compression to muscle imbalances.

Kneuro repositions the physical therapy office as a place to meet, learn, consult and train.

Kneuro lowers patient cost, while generating increased revenue to physical therapy offices.