Exercise compliance at 40% because patients forget what they were shown and have no printed sheet or video to refer back to -- the same exercises re-taught every visit because the programme was not retained?
Outcome measures collected inconsistently because the questionnaire relies on paper forms at clinic visits -- missing the between-session data that would show whether the patient is improving or plateauing?
Physical Therapy Patient Engagement App Development
Custom patient engagement apps for physical therapy clinics who need home exercise programme delivery, outcome measure collection, and between-session communication built into one tool the patient will actually use.
The gap between clinic sessions is where most PT outcomes are won or lost. A patient who cannot find their exercises, has no way to track progress, and has no channel to ask a question is likely to disengage. An app built around the treatment episode addresses that directly.
Home exercise programme with video demonstrations and completion tracking
Outcome measure questionnaires delivered at scheduled intervals with therapist dashboard view
Secure patient-therapist messaging with push notification on therapist response
Appointment reminders, rescheduling, and daily pain and symptom diary
A physical therapy patient engagement app delivers home exercise programmes with video demonstrations to patients between clinic sessions, collects standardised outcome measures at scheduled intervals, provides secure messaging between patient and therapist, sends appointment reminders, and logs daily pain and symptom data. RaftLabs builds custom patient engagement apps for PT clinics, physiotherapy groups, and outpatient rehab operators. Fixed cost, 12-14 week delivery.
100+Products shipped
·24+Industries served
·FixedCost delivery
·12-14Week delivery cycles
Patient engagement built around the treatment episode, not just the clinic session
Physical therapy outcomes depend heavily on what happens between clinic sessions. A patient seen twice a week is in the clinic for two hours out of 168 in any given week. What they do in the other 166 hours -- whether they do their exercises, how much they move, whether they notice a symptom change and can report it accurately -- shapes whether they recover.
The standard approach is a printed exercise sheet and a verbal explanation at the end of the session. There is no video. There is no way for the patient to log completion or ask a question without calling the clinic. There is no way for the therapist to see whether the exercises were done before the next session.
A custom patient engagement app closes this gap. Exercises are delivered as videos the patient watches at home. Completion is logged. Outcome measures are collected at scheduled intervals. The therapist has data before the session rather than relying on a verbal report from a patient trying to remember how their pain felt on Tuesday.
What we build
Home exercise programme delivery
Exercise library with video demonstrations and written cues. Therapist assigns a personalised programme with sets, reps, hold duration, frequency, progression notes, and specific instructions for this patient's version of the exercise. Patient sees the programme in the app with the video, written instructions, and therapist notes. Exercises grouped into named sessions -- morning programme, evening programme -- so the patient works through them in the right order. Programme updates pushed to the app immediately when the therapist progresses or modifies an exercise. Modification options for exercises the patient finds too difficult or too painful, accessible without calling the clinic.
Completion and adherence tracking
Patient logs each exercise session -- ticking each exercise as completed, noting reps if different from prescribed, and rating pain during the exercise on a consistent scale. Therapist views a compliance dashboard showing sessions completed, exercises skipped, pain reported for specific exercises, and overall programme adherence trend across the week. This data is available before the session starts so the therapist can adjust the plan based on what actually happened rather than what the patient remembers. Automated prompt sent to the patient if no exercises have been logged for two consecutive days, with a configurable message from the clinic. Adherence trend stored across the full episode of care for clinical review.
Outcome measure tracking
Standardised outcome questionnaires -- PSFS, DASH, Oxford Knee Score, KOOS, and any condition-specific measures the clinic uses -- delivered to the patient at scheduled intervals across the care episode. Patient completes the questionnaire in the app between sessions, without requiring a clinic visit or a paper form. Scores returned automatically to the therapist dashboard and displayed as trend charts against the patient's baseline. Clinically significant changes -- a worsening PSFS score or a deteriorating Oxford Knee Score -- trigger a review prompt to the therapist before the next appointment. Aggregate outcome reporting for the clinic showing average score improvement by condition and by therapist.
Secure patient-therapist messaging
Patient sends a query or progress update from the app -- a question about an exercise, a report that their pain changed after the last session, or a concern about a new symptom. Therapist responds from the clinic's management dashboard. Message thread linked to the patient record so any clinic team member can see the context without asking the patient to repeat themselves. Image and video sharing for form checks -- patient sends a short video of themselves performing an exercise, therapist reviews and responds with specific corrections. Push notification to the patient when the therapist responds. After-hours auto-reply confirms response hours and provides an emergency contact for urgent clinical concerns.
Appointment reminders and rescheduling
Automated pre-appointment reminders sent 48 hours and 24 hours before each session with confirm or reschedule options. Self-service rescheduling within the cancellation policy window -- patient selects a new time from available slots without calling the front desk. Missed appointment follow-up message sent after a no-show with a rebooking link and any notes from the therapist about the session's intended focus. Pre-appointment check-in questionnaire -- current pain score, activities achieved since last visit, concerns for the session -- completed in the app and available to the therapist before the patient arrives. Session summary sent to the patient after each visit covering what was covered and the goal for the next session.
Pain and symptom diary
Daily check-in prompt sent to the patient at a configurable time -- two taps to log a pain score and a brief activity rating on a consistent scale tied to the outcome measures the clinic uses. Symptom entries graphed across the episode of care so the patient and therapist can see the trajectory together during sessions. Therapist receives an alert when scores worsen significantly between visits -- a spike in pain or a reported inability to do a previously tolerated activity -- so they can decide whether an unscheduled check-in or appointment is needed. Symptom log stored in the patient record and exportable as a clinical summary for payer reporting or discharge documentation.
Frequently asked questions
The therapist accesses the exercise library from the management dashboard and selects exercises to assign to the patient. Each exercise has a video, written cues, and default parameters. The therapist sets the specific parameters for this patient -- sets, reps, hold time, frequency -- and adds written instructions or verbal cues that are specific to the patient's condition or capacity. The programme is saved and pushed to the patient's app immediately. The patient sees the exercises grouped into sessions, with the video and instructions visible for each one. When the therapist progresses the programme -- adding an exercise, increasing load, removing a completed exercise -- the update appears in the patient's app the next time they open it. The library can include proprietary exercises or clinic protocols added by the therapist team.
Outcome measures are scheduled against the patient's episode of care at intervals the therapist sets at intake -- for example, PSFS at week one, week four, and week eight, with Oxford Knee Score at the same intervals. At the scheduled time, the questionnaire is sent to the patient via a push notification in the app. The patient completes it at a time that suits them, without needing to be in the clinic. Scores are returned automatically to the therapist dashboard and added to the trend chart alongside previous scores. If the patient does not complete the questionnaire within a configurable window -- typically 48 hours -- a reminder is sent. The therapist can also trigger an unscheduled outcome measure at any visit if a clinical decision requires a current score.
Messages from patients arrive in the clinic's management dashboard in a shared inbox visible to the therapist and any designated administrative staff. Each conversation thread is linked to the patient record so the full message history is accessible alongside the clinical notes, exercise programme, and outcome scores. The therapist sees the message in context -- if a patient asks about pain during a specific exercise, the therapist can look at the completion log and pain ratings for that exercise in the same view before responding. Responses are delivered to the patient's app with a push notification. Urgent clinical concerns flagged by the patient can be escalated by the therapist with a direct call or an unscheduled appointment rather than a message thread response.
A focused patient engagement app covering the home exercise programme, completion tracking, outcome measure delivery, secure messaging, appointment reminders, and pain diary typically delivers in 12 to 14 weeks from requirements sign-off. Adding integration with an existing practice management system, custom exercise video production, and native iOS and Android apps alongside a progressive web app version extends the timeline to 16 to 20 weeks. Building the patient engagement app alongside the practice management platform as one connected system takes 20 to 26 weeks. Cost is fixed and agreed before development starts.
Talk to us about your patient engagement app project.
Tell us your current home exercise workflow and where patients disengage between sessions. We'll scope an app that keeps them on track and gives therapists the data they need.