In their practice, Carron and Lewis had seen first hand the way that physical activity can dramatically improve the prognosis of people with chronic conditions and sedentary lifestyles - as much, if not more so, than a medication prescription. They were determined to offer everyone a personalised physical activity programme, specific to their needs and conditions, to gradually build up their physical activity and improve their health, and with it, their quality of life.
Carron and Lewis came to us with a great deal of experience and ideas, and masses of documentation about exercise plans, the exclusions and contraindications of different diseases that should influence our algorithm, and a battery of advice and feedback to serve to users. The range of diseases that we addressed ranged from the minor (mild asthma) to serious conditions such as cancer or heart disease.
Our challenge was to take their complex medical approach and turn it into something simple: a set of interfaces to allow users to build an accurate profile, a set of tools to allow them to exercise safely, and an algorithm that would incrementally modify their exercise programme along with their increased fitness, while providing them visual feedback and motivation to carry on.
The iPrescribe app has helped thousands of patients with chronic or acute conditions to improve their prognosis and quality of life thanks to increased fitness. It has been recommended by the Harvard Heart letter, Prevention magazine, UK Active and others, as well as being included in the NHS apps library as part of their push for digital health self-management tools. It has also been shortlisted as Health App of The Year by The Healthcare Startup Society.
Digital product strategy, design and app development
