Empowering telemedicine platforms: Computer Vision-based human pose analysis for remote physical rehabilitation

Modern physical rehabilitation (musculoskeletal, to name) allows the patient to perform physical exercises at home, under the guidance of the involved therapist. But can that be improved or automated? Should the doctor actually spend time monitoring the patient (even online)?

First things first. Telemedicine/telehealth/virtual care.

Amid the COVID-19 crisis, the adoption of telehealth has skyrocketed in highly affected areas, reaching an about 80%, as reported by the ASPE. As a result, many patients have transitioned from in-person physical therapy visits to convenient online telehealth solutions. Almost every service in healthcare now can be provided virtually (except for surgical manipulations and etc.).

Physical therapy has gone virtual too

While traditional physical therapy has proven effective in improving musculoskeletal (MSK) outcomes, it has typically required in-person sessions. In the past, accurately analyzing human movement necessitated the use of markers or sensors attached to the participant, costly cameras, and trained personnel. However, significant advancements have changed the game. For instance, the digital-physical therapist’ platform offers advanced AI technology to capture and monitor human motion during exercises in real-time.

Why do we want to free the therapist from online patient monitoring?

Well, there are several numbers showing that moving patient’s physical rehabilitation monitoring towards automation brings benefits:

• 150% ROI
  This means that the medical business running the telemedicine platform will have more capacities and opportunities
• 5 hours — saved by therapists per week
  Not spending time on precise patient exercise monitoring makes the therapist more flexible and saves time for consulting other patients
• 27% faster patients recovery
  Patients are no longer dependent on the doctor’s schedule and can do exercises when it is convenient for them
• 1.6 times more patients
  (See the previous bullet about saving therapists’ time). This time can be used for other patients which raises doctors’ capacity and brings additional profit to the healthcare businesses

How does it work?

Thanks to the integration of built-in cameras found in tablets and smartphones and the power of AI-based pose detectors, we can now track human motion with exceptional precision and in real-time, regardless of location. This breakthrough enables individuals to engage in effective therapy sessions from anywhere, overcoming the limitations of time and distance.

The company I work in, Abto Software specializes in providing AI-based technology for real-time markerless motion capture, ensuring accurate skeleton tracking and high-quality recognition of human motion. This technology is applicable to a wide range of movements and exercises, utilizing only the cameras on mobile devices or personal computers.

Abto Software’s sensorless tech detects movement and gives real-time feedback sans clinician support.

• 32 joints monitored
• Hardware independent
• Markerless

Our solution is specifically designed to seamlessly integrate with MSK rehab platforms, empowering personal physical therapists to deliver enhanced care.

Made specifically for virtual physical therapy, the software uses live video streams from mobile or PC cameras and leverages advanced AI techniques. This innovative approach replaces the need for cumbersome sensors and enables precise analysis to empower physical therapists. No additional hardware or software is required, making it convenient and accessible.

Real-time human motion tracking & analysis process:

1. Integrate Abto’s technology into your rehab software for mobile and web.
2. Provide voice and written instructions for optimal user guidance.
3. Receive real-time feedback on user movement through voice and text.
4. Automatically store execution details digitally.
5. Access online dashboards for comprehensive results.

Happy therapists and patients

With markerless AI-based pose detection and analysis, both doctors, medical businesses, and patients win.

Value for physical therapists and medical professionals:

• Time efficiency: eliminate the need for therapists to attend every patient training, saving valuable time.
• Automated data collection and analysis: streamline the process by storing, structuring, analyzing, and visualizing all patient data on online dashboards.
• Data-driven care: utilize precise motion data from MSK screening to develop accurate prescriptions and create tailored recovery/treatment plans.
• Configurable alerts: set up customized alerts to automatically notify you of significant events, such as consecutive missed training sessions or a notable decline in performance.

Benefits of AI pose estimation technology for MSK patients:

• No additional hardware or sensors are required: simply use your smartphone or laptop camera for accurate measurement of accuracy and progress.
• Exercise flexibility: enjoy the freedom to exercise at any time without the need to synchronize schedules with your therapist.
• Precise video guidance: real-time human motion recognition and guidance provide audio and video cues to identify errors and guide patients during exercise.
• Progress tracking and visualization: performance data dashboards enable you and your therapist to compare statistics from recent sessions with previous weeks or months.
• Convenient storage and access to recorded training videos.

Expanding the functionality beyond MSK rehabilitation, our real-time motion analysis software can be used to improve:

• Digital therapeutics
• Digital rehabilitation
• Elderly care/geriatric physical therapy
• Orthopedics and sports medicine
• Prosthetic design and fitting
• Surgical planning
• Spinal rehab

The demo will be available soon! The details can be found here.

Please support us on Producthunt! https://www.producthunt.com/posts/ai-based-pose-detection-for-msk-rehab