Beyond Back Pain: Hip and Knee Pain Management Expands Kaia Health Musculoskeletal (MSK) Digital Therapeutic Offering

Broadening our digital MSK pain offering

Kaia Health has strengthened and broadened its MSK digital therapeutic (DTx) platform with the addition of a hip and knee pain self-management program. Built upon the extensive MSK capabilities of the Kaia Health Pain Management program, the hip and knee pain program uses our proprietary motion-tracking technology combined with multimodal rehabilitation for a less costly, more effective option to traditional treatment-first care pathways for chronic pain. Kaia Health’s current digital therapeutic disease management areas include:

Musculoskeletal health

• Program to support pain management of chronic, acute, and subacute back, shoulder, and neck pain
• Program to support pain management of hip and knee joints

Pulmonary rehabilitation

• Program to support chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)  rehabilitation, which digitizes and delivers a personalized physical pulmonary rehabilitation experience

Kaia Health’s MSK pain DTx solution is smartphone or tablet based and built on the evidence-based concept of multidisciplinary (multimodal) rehabilitation. It is designed to integrate with the existing healthcare ecosystem of our health plan partners.

What causes hip and knee pain?

Hip and knee joint pain can be caused by any number of factors, including over-exertion, lack of physical activity, and obesity. The hip and knee are two of the most commonly affected sites of musculoskeletal pain, with 8% to 30% of persons aged 60 years and older affected and 20% to 52% of persons aged 55 years or older affected. A primary driver of chronic hip and knee pain is osteoarthritis (OA), which has 3 modifiable risk factors:

• Joint injury or overuse, such as knee bending and repetitive stress on a joint
• Occupations that require repetitive knee bending and squatting
• Extra weight, which puts more stress on joints—particularly weight-bearing joints—and may also have metabolic effects that increase the risk of OA

Research shows that superior joint fitness and proper exercise is more likely to lead to better mobility and less pain. A compilation of numerous high-quality studies demonstrates that programs that combine strengthening, flexibility, and stretching have proven benefits in managing hip and knee pain. That’s where Kaia Health’s Hip and Knee Pain Management program comes in.

As with other types of MSK pain, knee and hip pain is often ineffectively treated with surgery, powerful drugs, or joint replacements. While such interventions may be needed in severe cases, for most it is not. Patients can use the app with or without current or past supervision from medical professionals; however, patients must have undergone prior medical examination to exclude causes for joint pain that would require specific medical treatment. Complete instructions for use are available here.

Effective hip and knee pain relief for your population

Kaia Health Hip and Knee Pain training can be done in just minutes per day at home, in the office, or while traveling. This ensures employees and plan members have easy access to a self-directed program supported by professional health coaches and digital technology. The program includes:

• Multimodal approach—the gold standard for pain management, combining education, relaxation, and exercises for a best-in-class digital therapeutic
• Motion Coach^TM—our digital “therapist in your pocket” approach to cost-effectively managing joint pain. This highly advanced computer vision and motion analysis tool tracks posture and provides real-time corrective feedback (using digital biomarkers) without the barriers of additional hardware or sensors associated with other DTx solutions
• Live coaching—our human coaching is based on the highly successful intrinsic methodology approach, which builds upon the strengths of a person rather than focusing on an individual’s mistakes and weaknesses
• Customization—a personalized program is created for each user based on the user’s condition, progress, and continuous feedback, all of which informs the next training steps
• Proven therapy—Kaia Health’s approach to the digital treatment of MSK pain has been proven twice as effective as standard-of-care treatments across all medical outcomes, including pain, anxiety, depression, stress, body function, and well-being. Further clinical validation of our knee and hip pain therapy in coordination with Motion Coach^TM is in progress, with results expected soon.

Built on evidence, powered by engagement

The move toward evidence-based, integrated, and scalable DTx solutions is changing how healthcare is delivered, and Kaia Health is at the leading edge of this technological revolution. Our new Hip and Knee Pain offering naturally integrates with Kaia Health’s overall strategy to provide the full continuum of digital MSK care through the power of traditional healthcare partnerships, member engagement, and cost-effective digital therapeutic delivery.

When it comes to implementation, our onboarding team is ready to get your population enrolled and your Hip and Knee Pain program underway. Our turnkey Rapid Rollout implementation includes customized integration, engagement campaigns, and a smooth onboarding process. Because employers can add Kaia Health through their existing health plan arrangement, rollout can be completed in a matter of weeks, on- or off-cycle. Your team can be ready to incorporate a data-driven approach that activates the right population while confidently adding value using  our trusted, quantifiable ROI assessment.

To learn more about how our evidence-based, integrated, and scalable DTx solutions are empowering better healthcare and minimizing the impact of MSK pain—including hip and knee pain—schedule a brief intro call or demo with our team today.