KayO Technology: Bringing precise strength test system to physical therapy

By Ryan Groy
For WisBusiness.com

You’re golfing on a Sunday afternoon, you hit a long drive, and, instantly, you feel a sharp pain as you tear the rotator cuff in your shoulder. The next day, you go to a clinic to visit a physical therapist to understand what you can do to get your strength back.

The physical therapist performs a subjective test on your shoulder, giving you a sheet of “stick figure” printouts displaying the exercise movements you must follow to rehabilitate your shoulder, and sends you on your way.

A week later, you go back to the physical therapist, not feeling much better than when you first showed up at the clinic. The therapist, again, performs various tests to see if the condition of your injury has improved, gives you a sheet of print outs including the second week of workouts, and sends you on your way.

Two weeks later, you realize that the physical therapy you’ve been performing hasn’t helped you. What’s next – other than more wasted time and money?

David Grandin, president and CEO of KayO Technology, has come up with a more efficient path to rehabilitation.

Grandin and his team have developed a system that combines a patented resistance band device, known as kiio, as well as a software platform named kiio FLEX, to create an innovative method of assessing patients with injuries requiring physical therapy.

Grandin describes this groundbreaking idea as “taking manual muscle testing, which is inefficient and subjective, and making improvements to increase efficiency and objectivity.” With this new method of treatment, patients will receive more specific and accurate feedback about their injuries and the recovery process.

KayO Technology takes manual muscle testing, which dates back to 1912, and combines advanced technology to give a patient animated therapeutic exercise templates. It comes with a digital “coach” to improve your physical well-being and monitor your progress throughout the duration of the rehabilitation process. All exercise results are automatically captured in the kiio FLEX and electronically copied directly into the patient’s Electronic Medical Records.

KayO is marketing its system for use in intercollegiate athletics and even among athletes competing at the professional level. Grandin plans to sell KayO’s Flex to sports programs around the country.

When freshmen or rookies enter a program, they will all take a baseline test through the KayO Flex. Once an injury has occurred, those athletes who have been tested would, again, be tested on the KayO Flex to see the exact percentage of strength lost.

Grandin’s hope is that once an athlete is injured, the KayO Flex can help them get back on the field faster. The goal of the KayO Flex is to better inform the physical trainers and the athlete about percentage of strength. The closer an athlete is to the 80 percent rehabilitation mark, or whatever percentage mark is set by the physical trainer, the sooner the athlete can participate and compete again.

The American Physical Therapy Association reports that more than 85 percent of its members are seeking solutions to improve skills relative to evidence-based practice. KayO’s initial focus is on these 255,000 physical therapists practicing in about 20,000 U.S. clinics. Beta test sites will include University of Wisconsin Sports Medicine, ATI Physical Therapy INC., and a few independent therapy clinics.

A typical clinical installation will include an annual site license for the kiio animation library priced at $4,000, about four kiio devices at $495 each, and a monthly SaaS license fee of $90 per month per therapist. Most clinics that are installing the innovative system are also expected to purchase some related equipment such as a charging station for kiio devices, a wall gym, cable caddy and/or exercise cables and handles. KayO has a distributor license from LifelineUSA.

The company presented to investors Nov. 5 at the Wisconsin Early Stage Symposium.

— Groy is a student in the UW-Madison Department of Life Sciences Communication.