From simple assistive devices to treatment… Evolving ‘digital healthcare’

The ‘Health Tech Expo’ held at COEX in Gangnam-gu, Seoul on the 14th. At the artificial intelligence (AI) solution company iPIXEL booth, a female model made both arms at a right angle and then repeated the movement of bringing them together and unfolding them inside her chest. This is a rehabilitation exercise for patients with ‘rotator cuff tears’, which occurs when doing work that puts a strain on the shoulder causes continued friction between the shoulder blade and tendon. 

The TV screen on the other side was divided into two, and a video of a rehabilitation exercise prescription being followed by a model appeared on the left side. On the right, the image of the model shown by the camera, the number of movements, and the accuracy were displayed in real time. If the model maintains the correct arm angle, the word ‘Perfect’ appears on the screen. The phrase ‘good’ appeared if it was average, and ‘not bad’ if it was worse than that. 

iPIXEL launched the ‘Exercite Care’ service, the first AI rehabilitation exercise coaching application in Korea. Exercite Care is based on technology where AI analyzes and corrects the movements captured by the camera when you watch and follow exercise videos on a smart TV.

Sejong Hospital, Korea’s only heart hospital, uses this app to prescribe necessary rehabilitation exercises and provide customized videos to patients. Doctors look at accumulated data on the patient’s number of exercises and accuracy, such as the angle at which the shoulder is lifted, and use it for treatment. Previously, hospitals only provided guidance to patients through paper books or YouTube videos, but the level of rehabilitation exercise has been raised to the next level. 

Lee Sang-soo, CEO of iPIXEL, said, “We developed the service considering the fact that many elderly people live far from hospitals, such as in mountainous areas that require remote management, or have difficulty moving around.” Earlier this year, iPIXEL received a positive response by installing a home training service on LG Electronics’ North American smart TV platform ‘WebOS’. This is also a service that helps the general public easily manage their health at home in a similar way to rehabilitation exercise apps….