Zimmer Biomet announces new data for mymobility remote care platform in orthopaedics

MedTech News: Zimmer Biomet announced several data presentations on the clinical value of mymobility^® with Apple Watch, a first-of-a-kind remote care management platform designed to help healthcare professionals remotely support and guide patients as they prepare for and recover from orthopaedic procedures.

mymobility with Apple Watch is a part of ZBEdge™, Zimmer Biomet’s suite of connected digital and robotic technologies designed to deliver actionable insights with the goal of improving patient outcomes. The data was presented at the recent American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) 2021 Annual Meeting.

“The introduction of mymobility with Apple Watch underscores Zimmer Biomet’s commitment to evaluating the real-world clinical benefits of a remote care management platform after orthopedic surgery,” said Robert Kraal, Vice President and General Manager, Connected Health at Zimmer Biomet. “These four analyses, utilizing interim data from the ongoing mymobility Clinical Study, suggest that mymobility with Apple Watch may be a viable option to help healthcare professionals monitor how a patient is progressing after surgery and remotely manage rehabilitation regimens to optimize recovery.”  

The first study was a randomised controlled trial determining the impact on postoperative outcomes with the use of a smartwatch paired mobile application as the self-directed rehabilitation (SDR) program after total knee arthroplasty (TKA).

“Our study was able to demonstrate that total knee replacement surgery patients using a remote care model with mymobility and an Apple Watch were able to achieve clinically similar outcomes compared to patients who received the traditional standard of care, regardless of their level of exercise compliance. The data suggest that a smartphone-based care platform featuring mymobility could be a viable alternative to the standard of care for post-operative knee replacement care,” said Krishna Tripuraneni, MD, FAAOS, orthopaedic surgeon at New Mexico Orthopaedics and the study’s lead author.

The second study evaluated patients who underwent primary hip or knee arthroplasty to determine the difference in 90-day healthcare utilisation between a smartphone-based versus traditional care platform.

“This study demonstrated that compared to patients treated with the standard of care after surgery, mymobility patients utilized less of the studied healthcare resources which, we hypothesise, could aid in decreasing postoperative costs,” said David Crawford, MD, orthopaedic surgeon at JIS Orthopaedics and the study’s lead author.

The third study examined the recovery curve based on passively collected physical activity after total hip arthroplasty (THA) using average step counts and flight counts (flights of stairs) measured by mymobility with Apple Watch.

“Before the availability of wearables and remote care management applications that can passively collect movement data and other indicators of post-surgical recovery, surgeons relied on patient reported outcome measures to assess a patient’s progress. Our analysis suggests that passively collected physical activity data using mymobility with Apple Watch may be as useful as PROMs to set goals and monitor recovery after total hip replacement surgery,” said Dr. Crawford, the study’s lead author.

mymobility with Apple Watch and iPhone acts as a virtual care team member by providing patients with support and guidance at the direction of their healthcare professional as they prepare for and recover from orthopaedic procedures from the comfort of their home.

For patients who have a compatible smartphone, and who are clinically suited for remote care, mymobility leverages the powerful sensors on Apple Watch and iPhone to measure a patient’s activity (e.g., number of steps, walking asymmetry, walking speed, flights of stairs) and post-operative progress. mymobility with Apple Watch also enables virtual connections between patients and healthcare professionals throughout the surgical episode of care, with the goal of lowering the overall cost of care.

Pre- and post-operative data collected by mymobility with Apple Watch is combined with intraoperative data from patients who undergo joint replacement with ROSA^® Robotics and is then seamlessly consolidated and analysed by OrthoIntel Orthopaedic Intelligence Platform, to uncover new clinical insights throughout the episode of care and to help surgeons and care teams make informed patient care decisions.