MotionMend is a mixed reality medical product catered to physical therapy patients to improve their at-home physical therapy experience through multi-sensory interactions such as visual and tactile.
3 Designers
6 Weeks
Designer, Research
Figma, Adobe After Effects,
The project aims to design a product using spatial computing and IoT technology to solve an existing problem in any business domain, envisioning how the technology would evolve in the near future (2-5 years).
We started out selecting “HomeLife” and “HealthCare” as two major business domains we wanted to focus on, and with more in-depth research into the technological capabilities and the business domain themselves, we focused ourselves on designing for physical therapy patients.
Over 50 million Americans seek physical therapy every year
There is an expected 18% increase in the physical therapy market over the next decade
Global physical therapy market will reach ~$40 billion in 2025
Our research found that lack of at-home guidance results in lower engagement for at-home physical therapy, and hinders overall recovery.
The current state of physical therapy is patients receive almost no guidance at home, resulting in
MotionMend extends real-time guidance from the PT’s office into patients' homes, correcting patients in real time during exercises through visuals and vibrations through wearable sensors. During each at-home session, the system collects user data and modifies the exercise based on the patient’s current conditions, increasing engagement and recovery success.
Patients are kept accountable for completing their routine by having to check-in, ensuring the patient is completing their required sessions.
Mixed-reality allows patients to view the session's exercise in a rendered 3D model, allowing the user to better understand requirements
Through wearable sensors on the patient's dedicated areas, the device would quickly detect when the patient is doing the exercise incorrectly, and provide timely intervention through visuals and sensor accuators on the wearables.
Combining quantitative data from wearable sensors and a short survey after each routine, MotionMend would quickly adjust the current routine to ensure the patient is doing the correct exercises to recover (not too hard that could cause further injury and not too easy that it's ineffective).
We conducted secondary research into the processes of physical therapy. From our research we identified 4 distinct stages for at-home physical therapy:
During the middle two phases, patient usually meet with the PT on a weekly/bi-weekly routine.
The academic paper we consulted interviewed 12 individuals currently participating in physical therapy. The paper identified three main issues with at-home physical therapy.
https://dl.acm.org/doi/pdf/10.1145/3563396
Difficult to track and adapt the exercises to suit the person’s needs and symptoms
Hard to get feedback on whether participants were doing the PT exercises safely and correctly to prevent injury
Lack of variety in exercises over time exacerbated the disinterest in completing at-home PT exercises
We’ve also conducted non-formal interviews with patients that are going through physical therapy regarding their current experience with physical therapy.
“ My PT can make a decision in a moment about what exercise to do next simply through observation ”
“ The main experience about going into the PT’s office is having them able to correct me physically hands-on ”
“ I just want [The PT] to be there with me when I’m at home ”
55 / female
Marge has been through some serious physical injuries, and needs to perform physical therapy to recover his mobility skills. However, Marge finds it quite difficult to continue her at-home exercises required by her PT, which has really hindered her recovery process
From all the research, we understood our design direction:
We explored different scenarios and sketches of how the user would interact with the product. We initially explored our main experience: using visual arrows to help guide patients through PT exercises correctly.
From the scenario movie, we identified the following opportunities:
Quick survey to understand patient's current symptoms
Interventions during the guided exercises
Adapt the exercise routine based on the patient's current symotoms
Wearable sensors are implemented with gyroscope and accelerometer collecting data about the limb's velocity and general orientation. MotionMend would compare the data with a standard set of data to ensure the patient is properly performing the exercises.
From the design concept, we also gave throught into how a patient would retrieve the VR equipment from their physical therapists, and how the patient would interact with the product.
Patient receives goggles and sensors as a DME (Durable Medical Equipment) covered by insurance
PT inputs patient diagnosis and general plan
Patient receives notification reminders for at-home sessions and check-in in system
Patient receives real-time feedback during at-home sessions
Patients go back into the office for routine checkup
Click to Reveal Full User Flow
Click to Hide Full User Flow
MotionMend uses actuators in the wearable bands to simulate sense of touch through vibration actuators on the sensors wrapped around the designated area. The bands are embedded with gyroscopes, accelerometer, and micro-location sensors to tract patient form and acutuate in specific patterns under specific situations.
MotionMend intervenes with the exercise when they detect an anomaly in the sensor data.
Vibration Warnings
The initial warning to users to indicate that something is wrong with their current exercise form. This type of haptic tell the patient which sensor/which designated area is wrong, making them look towards that specific sensor.
Directional Guidance
The haptic that happens after the initial warning vibration, after the patient knows which sensor/part of the body is going wrong. This type of haptic is supposed to simulate tactile touches similar to how a physical therapist uses hand-on guidance to guidance the patient back to the correct form during an exercise.
The two questionaires helps the system better understand the user's current symptoms. These questions are designed to be similar to questions that a therapist would ask when going into a PT's office.
By combing the data from the questionaires and from the wearable sensors during the exercise, MotionMend would modify their next exercise to refrain the patient from injuries while being also effective for the patient's current injuries.
Designing for the Future
This project pushed me to envision the integration of advanced technology into existing business domains. Inspired by Bill Buxton’s "long nose" concept and Nick Foster’s "Future Mundane," I learned to design for incremental improvements rather than purely futuristic ideas. Our team researched IoT technology for physical therapy, focusing on how it would augment current practices rather than replace them.
Aesthetic Interaction
Initially, I struggled with the concept of aesthetic interaction, but through discussions, I understood how to design interactions that are practical yet pleasing. Our design aimed to simulate the physical guidance of therapists for patients, which made the interaction both functional and beautiful.
First Time Prototyping with Movies
Using movie prototypes was a new experience, helping our team iterate on the product's functionality and user experience. While it broadened our view, it also scattered our focus. In the future, I’d allocate more time to refining the core experience within the design.