OneStep is on a mission to reimagine physical therapy – connecting patients with a network of licensed physical therapists through our app, making treatment accessible, convenient, and exceptionally effective.
OneStep’s science-based technology can turn any smartphone into a clinical-grade motion analysis lab. Our app provides experienced physical therapists with hassle-free 24/7 remote access to patients’ progress reports, so they are better equipped to make clinical decisions about their patient’s recovery programs and offer a range of tools to help provide the best care possible. Patients using OneStep receive a personalized recovery plan and instant feedback via their smartphone, enabling them to stay engaged and measure improvement in real-time with state-of-the-art physical therapy in their pocket.
In short, we deliver physical therapy in an innovative, convenient and affordable way, helping people get better and helping physical therapists effectively treat more people, more personally.
How did you come up with the idea for the company?
Initially, we set out to create an app that can detect strokes based on people’s walking patterns, or what we call ‘gait.’ But when my co-founders and I delved into the science, we realized that the technology we used to analyse stride length, speed, asymmetry, and other gait parameters is applicable to other areas of health as well, specifically physical therapy.
This is how the idea for OneStep came about: It’s a first-of-its-kind technology that harnesses the simple, ever-present power of the smartphone to analyse one’s gait in a natural setting, bringing immediate, easy-to-understand, around-the-clock feedback directly to patients undergoing physical therapy.
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How has the company evolved during the pandemic?
The Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated the use of digital and remote health solutions more than anyone could have predicted. In a way, the limitations caused by the pandemic, such as the inability to hold in-person meetings due to social distancing, have demonstrated how remote technologies can shine. Until recently, most patients underwent physical therapy at a clinic, typically meeting with their therapists for only an hour or two each week, making it very difficult for them to measure their day-by-day progress, get feedback or establish an ongoing, daily sense of improvement in their lives.
With digital physical therapy becoming a “new norm,” the added benefits are manifold. Patients save time and money usually required for prolonged physical therapy; recovery doesn’t happen once or twice a week for 35 minutes at the physical therapist’s office – it’s happening 24/7 without the hassle associated with commuting to the clinic – all it takes is getting OneStep installed on your phone and taking the first step towards recovery.
With traditional physical therapy, most patients don’t get past their fourth meeting, often dropping out of their recovery programs – with OneStep, 72% of patients finish their full course of care and 93% of our patients report reduced pain, increased mobility, and a better overall quality of life.
During the pandemic, we’ve witnessed the challenges physical therapists have had to overcome to deliver personal care remotely – be it due to a lack of monitoring tools or a lack of communication platforms needed to work with patients in a meaningful way. We understood this need even before the pandemic and believe that empowering physical therapists with the right technology to provide outstanding care is the way to go in the 21st century.
What can we hope to see from OneStep in the future?
As our patient base grows, our understanding of different walking patterns and their relation to other medical conditions further deepens, allowing us to widen our technology’s positive impact on patient recovery exponentially and help patients avoid the need for surgery.
As the world becomes more and more sedentary, musculoskeletal issues are becoming more common – about 8% of all adults suffer from chronic back pain and have become limited in certain everyday activities. No one should have to suffer from unnecessary pain. We hope that by making physical therapy easy, effective, incredibly accessible, and affordable, more and more people will be empowered to live healthier, pain-free lives.
