It’s hard to overestimate the importance of the care patients receive after a surgical procedure. Postoperative care often includes pain management and wound care, education about the potential side effects and complications of the surgery, behaviour instructions and medications, and eating or monitoring while sleeping. If postoperative care isn’t done properly, a number of problems may arise, such as complications or difficulties with the procedure that was done. The most common result of post-operative negligence is an infection, which is very dangerous to the patient. Unfortunately, at-home recovery can take days or weeks, depending on the complexity of the surgery, and people tend to lose focus and start neglecting their post-operational routines. As a founder of one of the startups we’ll talk about later said “Initially you are very eager to get back to the person you were and to regain your independence. However, over time rehab diminishes and that leads to a huge increase in demotivation and people become very depressed, and in some extreme cases have been known to commit suicide.”
In countries all over the world, surgery aftercare is considered a weak spot of healthcare. In the UK, a study of 237 hospitals across the country came to the conclusion that critical care provision was inadequate. Another recent study from 2022 that explored the cost of postoperative complications called the lack of postoperative “the hidden pandemic”. The author concluded that fundholders and clinicians should focus on delivering high-quality care. The founder of one of the US startups that we’ll talk about later told journalists that less than 10% of people when asked felt that they knew what to do every day after returning home from the hospital. He points out that the majority said they didn’t even know what they were supposed to do a mere two hours after leaving the hospital.
Of course, the role of technology in post-operative care isn’t all-encompassing. However, various tech solutions can help patients during their postoperative period. In this article, we’ll go through recent tech startups whose goal is to improve surgery aftercare, to make it easier, and more effective, and to prevent difficulties that come with surgery aftercare neglect.
DayToDay Health
DayToDay health is a startup that has been launched in 2018. It offers personalised care journeys through its AI platform and guides patients throughout both surgical preparation and post-surgery recovery. The platform creates personalised care plans that include physiotherapy, diet plans, education, and mental health support, which as noted before can also be a serious problem for patients post-surgery. The platform ensures all questions and concerns are answered via the platform’s support. It also provides an analytical dashboard that allows the doctor to track and monitor the patient’s progress daily.
Euleria Health
Euleria Health is an Italian startup that brings together various devices all of which improve rehabilitation on-site and from remote. Platform’s solutions help plan, execute and evaluate rehabilitation paths. Their product Euleria Riablo uses biofeedback technology to help patients exercise and asses their results, by themselves or with the doctor’s help. Another product they offer is called Euleria Kari, and it is a kit, which consists of a wearable sensor and an app that guides the patient through a personalised exercise path configured by a health professional. The latter can also monitor the progress remotely and stay in touch with the patient through the whole rehabilitation process.
Sword Health
Sword Health is a digital musculoskeletal therapy provider that pairs its members with a licensed physical therapist and aims to help people overcome their post-surgical pain faster and more cost-effectively. Besides real-life therapists, Sword also provides a Digital Therapist that uses sensor technology to deliver real-time feedback. All the movement data is then shared with the real-life therapist anyway, who adapts the program based on actual performance. Sword Health is also a source of research, videos and tools necessary for a holistic recovery journey easily accessible to all its users. It teaches patients about ways to establish better behaviors for pain management and gives tips for greater mobility and flexibility.
RecoveryOne
RecoveryOne is a platform for virtual physical therapy which is often required in postoperative care. The therapy is customized to the patient’s needs, and a combination of real physical therapists and machine learning algorithms create a Motion Trainer which gives members instant feedback to the patients. It’s easy to use for anyone with a smartphone or a tablet, and the gamification approach makes sure the users don’t neglect their recovery plan. Once they sign up for the program, an equipment kit is sent to the users. RecoveryOne can also be synced with a Fitbit device or Google Fit tracker ― this way, the person’s activity is tracked more precisely and the person is motivated to do more.
Cionic
Cionic startup provides bionic clothing for mobility care and rehabilitation. The clothing improves walking and strength and increases the patient’s speed, mobility, and endurance. The Cionic app ensures the user’s mobility treatment is easily customized, allowing the user to gain insight into their progress and share data with health professionals. The system works via two technologies combined. The first technology in use is continuous motion analysis: the sensors on bionic clothing continuously monitor movement in real-time to evaluate muscle firing and limb position. The second is functional electrical stimulation: algorithms deliver functional electrical stimulation to activate the necessary muscles coordinated to the gait cycle. Bionic clothing is a highly advanced system. Yet, it’s easy to use and it can improve life post-surgery significantly.
Immersive rehab
Immersive rehab is a startup specialising in the creation of interactive and engaging physical and neuro-rehabilitation programmes in Virtual Reality (VR). It’s a Software-as-a-service for hospitals, meaning hospitals buy subscriptions on a yearly basis to use the tool. The company was founded in 2016 with the aim of using VR to create physical rehab exercises that improve patient recovery and reduce referral times for patients who need postoperative care. It is particularly aimed at people with neurological upper limb mobility issues, stroke patients and people with Cerebral Palsy (CP).
Virtual reality development has contributed to various healthcare challenges. When it comes to rehabilitation, the effect can be outstanding. When a person performs rehabilitation exercises in a virtual environment it is possible to tap into the neuroplasticity of their brain, which improves motor functions. Finally, VR software companies can make rehabilitation fun and engaging, which can’t be said about other postoperative care programs.
Final words
The need for postoperative care is growing due to the ageing population and the increasing volume of complex surgery. In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic increased this risk further compounding the additional burden on healthcare.
If the need isn’t met, the even greater burden will lie on healthcare facilities which are already struggling everywhere. The overall burden on postoperative complications is uncertain but is speculated to increase by 10% annually based on age alone. Alternative approaches to surgery aftercare are necessary if we want to avoid the healthcare collapse in the coming ages.
Luckily, startups all over the world create better, cheaper, and easier ways for patients to rehabilitate at home and for patients to rehabilitate at hospitals with minimal interference from medical professionals. At the same time, the approaches tech startup use rely on data and analytics, machine learning and VR, ensuring the progress is tracked closely and we understand how it happens even better.
