In his late 50s *Peter survived a heart attack and cardiac arrest after a surf session with his kids. Reasonably active until then, he was hesitant about resuming exercise in the aftermath.
‘I had access to a cardiac rehab program at the hospital that was run by exercise physiologists and closely monitored,’ Peter says.
‘That got me feeling stronger, but after that finished I wasn’t sure where to go next.’
Transition to preventative health
Peter is representative of a growing demographic of Australians who are falling through a gap in current healthcare infrastructure.
While a growing amount of research finds that exercise, especially strength training, should be a routine practice for young and old, patients currently find it difficult to safely transition from medical and allied health services into a preventative health and wellbeing environment.
The vision of an integrated, preventative ‘Population Health’ system is something that occupies the mind of global healthcare technology pioneer Arno Parviainen.
Arno founded David Health in the mid-1980s, which supplies intelligent training devices to more than 600 exercise rehabilitation centres in 45 countries – including 22 back rehabilitation clinics in Australia overseen by getback.
‘My long term belief is that exercise therapy in a scientific, documented and quantified manner will be a huge, core part of healthcare,’ Arno says on a recent visit to Melbourne.
Benefits of evidence-based exercise
For Arno, the case for a mass preventative health system has become more obvious in recent years, with a plethora of research showing the wide-ranging benefits of evidence-based exercise and strength training.
‘Researchers continue to identify a growing number of molecules excreted during strengthening exercise that are instrumental in repairing tissues, enhancing immunity, regulating cell growth and facilitating nerve generation,’ he explains.
‘For an ageing population, the most important health benefit is improved functional capacity. Muscle strength, endurance and coordination are all enhanced, improving quality of life and the ability to participate in activities.’
Creating a transitional health model
Arno believes there should be an urgency in creating a transitional health model, especially for countries with rapidly ageing populations.
‘How do we take care of them? And how do we reduce soaring health care costs?
‘Right now, prevention as a strategy is not really being reimbursed anywhere and so we spend more and more money to fix things.’
Arno believes the solution lies in a system with in-built protocols to guarantee that people can transition safely into long-term preventative health.
‘We have to bring the medical field and the fitness industry together,’ he says.
‘With the right equipment and technology, the fitness industry could play a critical role in mass preventative health for people of all ages.
‘Accessibility to the fitness industry is already huge, they are all over the world.’
After initially designing training equipment for the fitness industry, Arno’s company David Health shifted focus several years ago to develop intelligent devices for rehabilitation exercise therapy.
Working with Biomechanists and Exercise Scientists, David Health developed unique rehabilitation devices that enable effective, safe and measurable exercise therapy for patients with a wide range of musculoskeletal conditions.
Bridging the evidence gap in exercise therapy
In Australia, David partnered with getback to deploy technology to specifically address the evidence gap in the treatment of musculoskeletal disorders, initially focused on chronic back pain. The system now includes shoulder, hip and knee joint specific strengthening devices which have a similar efficacy in reducing chronic joint pain and morbidity.
The only exercise rehabilitation devices in Australia with TGA Registration, they are specifically designed to regulate weight for optimal muscle strengthening as the patient works through a customised range of movement.
The devices excel in isolating and targeting specific muscles in a way that prevents incorrect movements and ensures only the target joint and muscles are exercised. Without this feature, patients often compensate by using other muscles, especially when experiencing pain.
Automated exercise prescription restricts patients from progressing too aggressively by increasing weight or repetitions and the devices provide real time bio-feedback to boost patient motivation and compliance to the customised speed and range of movement.
Data collected from every exercise therapy session by the platform enables a continual review of progress and reporting.
Arno is confident that David’s devices and technology partners such as getback can help bridge the gap to safe, customised training in fitness centres in Australia.
‘We have a platform that could enable the fitness industry to accept people that are limited by their joint pain, or who have overweight or other issues,’ he says.
‘You don’t have to be a very highly educated therapist to use the protocols inside our software.
‘We can provide know-how for the fitness field to start taking care of people who really need it.’
