Your Apple Watch could monitor how you’re recovering after a hip op

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App Home Screen Apple Watch Series 4
This is Apple's second major medical study.
Photo: Leander Kahney/Cult of Mac

Apple has teamed up with medical device company Zimmer Biomet to explore ways to make the Apple Watch into a valuable tool for people recovering from knee and hip replacement surgeries.

The two companies are collaborating on a clinical study to examine why certain patients recover from these procedures faster than others. The Apple Watch will be used for gathering data from participants.

They have also created a mobile app called Mymobility, which includes learning resources, exercise videos, and a means by which patients can easily contact their care team with concerns. The Apple Watch will work with this app by gathering step and heart rate data. This can then be used to provide physicians with a picture of how patients are recovering.

Apple and Zimmer Biomet are looking to enroll a substantial 10,000 people in the U.S. for the study. At first, these will be the only people able to use the Mymobility app, although it will later be opened up to anyone who wants it. Participants will also receive an Apple Watch for the duration of the study.

“We believe one of the best ways to empower consumers is by giving them the ability to use their health and activity information to improve their own care,” said Jeff Williams, Chief Operating Officer at Apple, in a statement. “We are proud to enable knee and hip replacement patients to use their own data and share it with their doctors seamlessly, so that they can participate in their care and recovery in a way not previously possible through traditional in-person visits. This solution will connect consumers with their doctors continuously, before and after surgery.”

Apple’s health initiative

This is the second time Apple has been involved with a large scale medical study such as this. Previously, it teamed up with Stanford University for the Apple Heart Study, an investigation into heart health among Apple Watch owners. That study, which launched in November 2017, is currently in the process of wrapping up.

Elsewhere, Apple continues to be a role in projects that explore how its products can be used in healthcare. Earlier today, we wrote about one such initiative, in which Apple donated 1,000 Apple Watches to a program aimed at tracking binge eating among people with eating disorders.

Via: CNBC

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