pocketPT

Date | Fall 2022

Role | UX Designer

project overview

Using physical therapy to improve an condition involves many activities that target certain muscles in a certain way. When practicing these programs outside of a PT office, there is a higher chance of the programs being done in an ineffective or incorrect way, which leads to wasted time or even further injury.

PocketPT is a concept that seeks to provide more guidance and instruction for at-home activities.

objectives

PocketPT has 3 main objectives:

Encourage the user to compete their programs consistently, in adherence to their PT’s plan.
Act as an assistant to their routines that guides them through the actions utilizing visuals and voiceovers.
Provide visual feedback that gives the user real-time adjustments that ensure the routine is being completed correctly.

The goal of these objectives is to provide a less stressful, more efficient way to assist both patients and care providers in activities that lay on the path to recovery.

description of users

For physical therapy, the adherence rates for exercises that need to be completed at home are sometimes as low as 35%.

This is the result of many factors:

Social support and psychological conditions
User’s baseline of physical activity
Their perception of their issue severity
Perceived barriers
Confidence in carrying out the task on their own
Personal concept of responsibility
With the rise in telehealth, the ability to complete these programs without direct oversight is more important than ever.

user and business goals

The patient (user) will:

Feel more results, faster from their program
Overcome uncertaintly about their ability to do activities in an unmonitored environment
Avoid injuries by receiving clearer instruction

The practice (business) will:

Benefit from having an easy way to keep track of programs
Be able to monitor patient activity outside of the office
Maintain communication with patient outside of time in the office

surveys

journey map

user test results

Summary of Results

The main two issues that users ran into were confusion how to get to the AR portion of the app, and how to fill out the note. While the note issue was more due to a poor choice in how to recreate writing, the AR button could be clarified further.

Users enjoyed the voice activation, and there were enough cues on the screen for users to sometimes understand that it was meant to be voice activated, even if they were not told.

Key Comments

“People like getting feedback from from another source.”
“I actually said “begin” out loud at first.”

Suggestions for Improvement

Create an exit prompt before exiting the AR portion that gives encouragement to keep going.
Change the button to get to the AR portion to a bar underneath the video, as the camera button is not descriptive enough to let the user know that it will lead to guided exercise.