The number of people in Denmark who experience pain and decide to visit a physiotherapist and become a patient where rehabilitation at home is a part of the

rehabilitation program has increased over the past years. At the same time, the field of physiotherapy is experiencing a paradigm shift. A shift in which patients are supposed to play a bigger role and carry out a bigger responsibility while physiotherapists are willing to give up some of their authority and responsibility. In my thesis, I addressed the problem by utilising a user-centered approach, as a part of which I sought to understand the problems that patients and physiotherapists are experiencing within the field of home rehabilitation. Based on interviews, observations and several iterations I created   a digital prototype, uRehab.

The prototype is inspired by location-based push notifications and quantified-self technologies. This means, that uRehab helps patients do their recommended exercises by sending motivational push notifications when the patient is at home. At the same time, the application allows the patient to follow his own development based on the entered pain level and the history of past exercises. The physiotherapist receives the data in real-time and based on it the physiotherapist gains the insight into the patient’s improvement at home. Moreover, the physiotherapist then uses the data to create a more efficient program and continuously improve the patient’s involvement during the rehabilitation process.