Health apps replacing doctors - 18th October 2021

In Sweden apps are increasingly supporting people with long-term health conditions and over the last 18 months, their use has become widespread.

Ewa-Lena Rasmusson, from Stockholm, says that a Swedish app designed to help with joint pain has transformed her mobility in lockdown. A daily reminder prompts her to do leg lifts and squats for five minutes.

Video demonstrations model correct techniques and then training is adjusted according to feedback on how challenging or painful an activity is. An online chat function allows users to talk with a physiotherapist and to have video call check-ins.

"I can really feel the difference," claims Ms Rasmusson, who has struggled with knee pain. When she began the treatment in March 2020 she could only manage a handful of squats, and can now do plenty.

Joint Academy was co-founded by Leif Dahlberg, a professor of orthopedics at Lund University, and his son, Jakob. It was launched in 2014 to improve treatment for osteoarthritis.

The app's success is part of a growing popularity in specialist digital healthcare services. In Sweden, around one in five people used an app in autumn 2020, according to The Swedish Internet Foundation, including almost one in 10 pensioners. Other apps to help with high blood pressure and migraines have also proved a great success.

However, Sofia Rydgren Stale, who chairs the Swedish Medical Association, considers apps to be somewhat limited in their use, saying, "It is important to define what kind of care and which types of treatments can be handled by digital apps."

Instead, Jakob Dahlberg points to the results of the firm's 10 clinical studies. Research by the University of Nottingham found that patients using the app experienced that their pain reduced by 41% after six weeks. This compared with just a 6% reduction in those people receiving traditional care.

"It works. There's really no more need to argue than that: the data speaks the truth," says Jakob.