Resistance rehab device to spring into international markets
Health & Medical
The next phase for a physiotherapy device that shares results in real time is to expand into the US and take on the healthcare industry.
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Prohab was started by physiotherapist and sports scientist Lyndon Huf in South Australia late in 2016.
He designed a device that can be attached to elastic resistance bands, commonly used for sports training and rehabilitation, to measure performance and to ensure exercises are being performed within the advised parameters.
Connected via a smartphone app, results can be instantly shared via a “team dashboard” with coaches and health professionals anywhere.
Huf said winning a 2019 Good Design Award, Australia’s peak international design award, signalled “international recognition” for the product and validated the company’s next phase of retailing the device overseas.
“The key target market is the United States, which will happen in the next 12 to 18 months, but Japan and Europe are other markets we’re interested in as well,” Huf said.
“We want to get it into the mass market and treat lots of people.”
Prohab targets rehab patients and professional sports clubs, with a particular focus on shoulder sports that involve throwing, hitting or overhead activity such as swimming, tennis, cricket and baseball.
Huf said the tool would continue to be developed and manufactured in South Australia and used in leading sports clubs, however it would be further updated to rehabilitate specific healthcare problems such as chronic neck pain, back pain, knee replacement surgery and other injuries.
“Healthcare is quite different to sport,” he said.
“We’re partnering with a lot more research institutions and universities and we’re adapting our devices to have the capabilities to treat healthcare patients, specifically in the home.
“We’ve got some data now to actually progress people out of the clinic into the workplace or home and treat them more effectively.
Huf said they will validate the product through their Prohab Active Therapy clinic in Adelaide, South Australia before going global.
“We’ve developed our sensor technology and our software and we’re just talking that to a world class level that hasn’t really been done before.”
Prohab is based in the Tonsley Innovation District in the South Australian capital Adelaide with dozens of other startups.
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