SAN DIEGO , March 10, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- The Apple Health app provides users with a wide range of metrics to track various health parameters, from heart rate and blood oxygen levels to fall risk and time spent in daylight. Now, Apple Health mobility data can help serve as a valuable tool for assessing patient recovery following lower extremity trauma surgery, such as tibial plateau, distal femur and femoral shaft fractures, according to a study presented at the 2025 Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS). Using mixed-effect models to compare certain Apple Health mobility parameters, the researchers were able to objectively measure improvement by using a patient's mobility data prior to injury as a baseline metric.
"Our goal as orthopaedic surgeons is to help patients regain mobility and resume the activities they enjoy," said Dane J. Brodke , MD, MPH, assistant professor, Oregon Health & Science University in Portland. "In cases of traumatic leg injuries, assessing functional recovery has traditionally been challenging due to a lack of objective data.
Since smartphone-based platforms like Apple Health collect data passively in the background, we have a unique opportunity to measure mobility both before and after an injury, providing valuable context for patient recovery. This baseline information is vital to contextualizing a patient's recovery and is generally unavailable with other functional outcome measures." The study, " The Future is Mob.
