Achieving bone healing even in compromised conditions

Bone fractures happen in all age groups, but fractures are much more prevalent among geriatric patients and healing results are more diverse and critical in elderly. After fracture, when geriatric patients are not mobilized promptly, co-morbidities that frequently are the cause of a fall or fracture event, deteriorate further. Thus, surgeons prioritize swift operations on geriatric patients and do everything they can for early recovery and mobilization with proper fracture fixation. Currently, there is no means to address patient-specific activity level, fracture management or postoperative return to full weight bearing. If patients cannot recover quickly in aftercare, the results are often dire, and many geriatric patients lose their autonomy, requiring relocation to nursing homes. Patients that lack return of mobility and independent-living stay longer in hospitals, require intensive support, or die within the first months after suffering a fracture, often from secondary diseases that are exacerbated by inactivity.

At MoveFx, we recognize the significance of movement in life, and our goal is to enable the geriatric aftercare team and caregivers to mobilize patients to their pre-operative activity level as early as possible while simultaneously avoiding overloading the healing fracture zone. Based on patient’s activity level prior to fracture, the X-ray images of the fracture, fracture treatment, patient anatomy, and combined with detailed knowledge of activity-dependent loading based on a worldwide-unique in vivo load database, we adapt and schedule postoperative admissible loading and support to recover the individual activity level. For each patient, we help guide the direct postoperative management and geriatric care team, and care-givers in order to enable healing quickly with a safe fracture fixation avoiding postoperative overloading. In doing so, we instruct and motivate patients and their caregivers to foster mobilization towards an adequate intensity that stimulates and warrants bone healing.