App to transform physio assessment

Physiotherapy clinicians and students will have knowledge at their fingertips thanks to a new smartphone app being developed by Epworth HealthCare.

The Epworth spasticity team took home the $15,000 Pitchfest award at the 2023 Australian Physiotherapy Conference in October, which will go towards developing the app.

The Victorian private healthcare group's Professor of Physiotherapy Rehabilitation, Gavin Williams, said it would show clinicians how to assess spasticity – the abnormal increase of muscle stiffness – in a standardised way, making testing and measurement easier.

"About five years ago we wrote a manual about the standard way to test spasticity in arms and legs – unbelievably, there wasn't one already – so we wrote one just for our clinic," Professor Williams said.

"We found that other people were asking for the manual, so we had it written up into a book and we were selling it, just for cost.

"And then we found it was being used at universities, at clinics, at rehabilitation centres, you name it. So, we had the idea we should turn it into an app."

Prof Williams was able to bring together the clinical expertise of Epworth and the digital experience of the University of Melbourne, where he is Professorial Fellow in Physiotherapy.

"The university has developed healthcare apps in the past, and we thought it was important it was done right, so we linked up with them," he said.

"We're the content experts really, and they're the tech experts."

He said the smartphone app was going to be a game-changer for treating patients.

"The app is going to benefit everyone – from students through to clinicians," Prof Williams said.

"The limitation with the manual was that it relies on photos, but in the app we're going to have videos so people can see exactly how to do it.

"The one thing that was holding us back was funding. We needed another grant, and the award was amazing for that."

Prof Williams also delivered two presentations at the conference: task-specific resistance training for mobility in acquired brain injury; and another on how hand-held dynamometry assists clinical decision-making for people with neurological conditions.

The best paper was won by Epworth Richmond rehabilitation physiotherapist Sara Aldous, with support from her team, on exercise-induced symptom exacerbation in moderate-to-extremely severe traumatic brain injury.

The best early career researcher award was won by Epworth Richmond rehabilitation physiotherapist Megan Banky and team was called: 'Controlling the Modified Tardieu Scale Assessment Speed to Match Joint Angular Velocities During Walking Impacts Spasticity Assessment Outcomes'.

Three other Epworth staff were named runners-up for awards.

Epworth's Director of Allied Health, Claire Ferguson, congratulated all the staff on their fantastic achievements.

"This is an outstanding effort and a reflection of the incredible work and dedication to making a difference to clinical care and patient outcomes," she said.

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