Movement as a biomarker
The researchers are already using the app to build new tools, including metrics to identify risk for anterior cruciate ligament injury in young athletes and to measure balance.
Someday, the technology could augment annual physicals, establishing movement as a biomarker. By having patients perform a few movements, like walking or standing up, clinicians could assess their disease risk and progression or their risk of falling.
Excessive loading in the knee joint puts patients at higher risk of developing osteoarthritis, for instance, but clinicians can’t easily access this information. The disease is typically diagnosed after symptoms appear, even though intervention could happen much earlier.
“Prevention is still not as embraced as it should be,” said Pamela Toto, PhD, professor of occupational therapy at the University of Pittsburgh, who also was not involved in making the app. “If we could tie the technology to intervention down the road, that could be valuable.”
A version of this article first appeared on Medscape.com.