I’ve seen firsthand the devastating effects of brain injuries. In 2006, a close friend of mine was in a serious auto accident, resulting in him being in a coma for months. He lost much of his ability to function and still needs extensive therapy to this day. Brain injuries, including traumatic injuries, strokes, and aphasia, are physically, emotionally and financially overwhelming, usually requiring thousands of hours of treatment.
Constant Therapy, which just raised $2 million in Series A funding, is trying to make brain rehab simpler, more accessible, and cheaper.
Constant Therapy has created a tablet app with exercises specifically designed for brain rehabilitation; the app has 65 different tasks, each with a number of difficulty levels. These tasks include:
- Active sentence completion
- Addition
- Auditory command comprehension
- Calendar planning
- Clock reading
- Currency
- Inference reading
- Map reading
- And more…
Each of these tasks has been scientifically proven to aid in improved cognitive performance after trauma.
Users begin by answering a series of questions about themselves, including the type of brain injury they have, what specific functions they need help with, and when they were diagnosed with the brain injury. The app then creates a customized plan of exercises for the user to begin.
The Constant Therapy app uses a “NeuroPerformance Engine” to analyze the data produced after a patient goes through the exercises. Based on the analysis, the app determines where the patient is progressing and where they are struggling. The app then automatically (and on an ongoing basis) adjusts the individual’s program to address their areas of weakness.
The app also provides regular feedback, allowing patients to see exactly how much progress they’re making and in what areas. In the world of brain injuries, where recovery can be extremely slow, this feedback can instill hope in the patients and give them a real sense of accomplishment.
The app is designed to be used both by individual patients and by clinicians and patients together. One key advantage for clinicians is that the app allows them to closely manage and monitor progress at a very granular, quantitative level.
Kevin Ohashi, cofounder of Pond Capital (an investors in the company), said:
We believe Constant Therapy can be a disruptive positive force in the $10 billion market for brain rehabilitation services. Unlike traditional paper-based therapies that rely on static and manually delivered exercises, its mobile exercises are dynamic, updated constantly and customized for each patient. Clinicians can use Constant Therapy with their patients in clinic and the patients can continue to work independently when they go home.
Constant Therapy is relatively inexpensive, costing $19.99 per month, $199 per year, or $299 for three years.
The recent funding will position Constant Therapy to be even more disruptive in the $10 billion brain rehab market. They plan on using the funds to expand scientific research, data, marketing, and development.
