LOS ANGELES, Calif. (Ivanhoe Newswire) – Millions of Americans get knee or hip replacements every year. Now, patients in a clinical trial don’t have to go to their physical therapist for rehab. It’s right on their phone.
Gavin Cameron-Webb hardly limps at all now. That wasn’t the case before his knee replacement three weeks ago.
“My knee was giving me a lot of trouble. There was pain, and I couldn’t walk far,” Cameron-Webb said.
Steven Barnett, MD, Orthopedic Surgeon/Researcher at Hoag Orthopedic Institute has Cameron-Webb in the MyMobility trial run by Zimmer Biomet and Apple. They’re testing a watch and an app to help patients do their rehab exercises conveniently, and hopefully, often.
The app has a range of exercise videos and other information, even for pre-op patients. The watch reminds patients to exercise and sends back information to the doctor.
“We can literally log in to the patient’s account daily, see how far they’ve walked, see if they’ve done their exercises, and it allows us to keep close tabs on them, especially in that immediate post-operative period,” said Dr. Barnett.
Cameron-Webb does his exercises three times a day and sees improvement every day. He has big plans.
“I want to get back on the racquetball court, I want to get on the tennis court with my wife, and I want to be able to walk again in London,” said Cameron-Webb.
The app gives Cameron-Webb six to eight weeks of exercises, but he’ll wear the watch for a year to give doctors recovery information. Dr. Barnett says compliance is good with MyMobility participants. Hoag Orthopedic is one of 18 sites participating in the MyMobility study. For more information, visit www.zbmymobility.com/clinicalstudy
Contributors to this news report include: Wendy Chioji, Field Producer; Rusty Reed, Videographer; Cyndy McGrath, Supervising Producer; Dave Harrison, Editor.