PART (Physical Augmented Reality Therapy) is a dual-platform solution designed to improve adherence to at-home physical therapy. By combining WebXR-based AR guidance for patients and a data-driven web portal for physical therapists, PART bridges the communication gap between clinic and home, boosts engagement, and enhances therapy outcomes—particularly for elderly and cognitively impaired patients.
The challenge was clear: patients lacked motivation to complete at-home exercises, and physical therapists lacked visibility into patient progress between visits. With millions of outpatient visits daily and only a 35% adherence rate to home exercise programs (HEPs), we set out to design an end-to-end solution that improved continuity of care, reduced costs, and supported better clinical outcomes.
Patients often forget or avoid at-home exercises due to lack of motivation or clarity. Meanwhile, physical therapists have no way of knowing whether patients are practicing correctly—or at all—between sessions, limiting their ability to adjust care plans effectively.
We designed a connected experience that supports both patient and provider. The patient-facing product leverages WebXR to guide exercises through an accessible AR interface. The provider-facing web portal enables therapists to remotely monitor patient adherence and performance through data and video analytics, streamlining feedback and support.
PART was built with both B2C and B2B goals. On the B2C side, the focus was on elderly and cognitively impaired patients—groups who often face significant barriers to consistent treatment. On the B2B side, we engaged with licensed PTs to understand existing pain points and system workflows. Current practices like paper instructions or email lack precision and feedback, limiting their impact. Our solution bridges these gaps with real-time data and actionable insights.As P.A.R.T. is both a business to business (B2B) and business to consumer (B2C) product, there were multiple domains to consider. On the patient side (B2C), the domain of our project consisted of elderly individuals, those with cognitive impairments. From our research we found that elderly patients often struggle with remembering prescribed home exercises, leading to missed days and longer treatments plans. Patients with cognitive impairments face these challenges as well, resulting in a demographic of patients for which traditional treatment methods create significant barriers to recovery. On the physical therapist side, we took the time to speak with licensed practicing PT's to discover major pain points. We took the time to look through the most common communication practices between patients and PTs regarding home exercises programs (HEPS), which were either: emails and/or via written on paper. However, a major pain point of this methodology was that PT’s had no idea if their patients were doing the exercises correctly or if they were doing the exercises at all.
Stakeholders: The stakeholders involved in our domain included elderly individuals, and those living with cognitive impairments. Also included are physical therapists who note issues with the way patient progress is monitored today—as well as dealing with a lack of resources for struggling patients.
We understood that the web portal for the PTs needed to encompass the data from the WebXR product while also being able to integrate patient electronic medical records (EMR) to maintain workflow. Our team took the time to explore different user flows and feature sets to see what would be plausible in our given time frame.
The user research was done in primary and secondary research methods. The primary research focused on patient survey and interviews, and clinical PT interviews. The secondary research encompassed domain immersion methods, AR subject matter experts, competitive market research, and generative product user story methods.
Based on patient surveys and interviews, majority of participants felt ambivalent or unmotivated to complete at-home exercises. Furthermore, half of the participants answered that they complete the at-home exercises at a casual or not often level, despite 75% of participants agreeing with the efficacy of the exercise. Likewise physical therapist interviews have shown the lack of confidence in patient’s diligence for at-home exercise regiment adherence.
In understanding that the two user bases needed separate products, our team decided to create a side by side experience to transition between the different two products. For the patients, we decided on a WebXR product to help guide their exercises at home, and for PTs, a way to access the exercise data in clinical settings.
Post-research, my work ownership combined on the interactions between the web portal and the immersive AR experience as well as a combination of certain areas with the overall platform experience. There are many technologies that exist in the PT space, created with the intention to serve PTs. Platforms like WebPT, Medbridge, Hep2G0, quickEMR, and PreHab, all exist and take up considerable market space. However these technologies operate solely on web and mobile platforms—therefore restricting their services to those limited platforms.
Early wireframes explored how therapists would interact with patient data on the portal. I designed initial layouts for dashboards and adherence summaries, keeping usability and accessibility at the forefront. In parallel, we sketched key moments of the patient AR experience to ensure clarity, motivation, and ease of use.
We refined our information architecture and prototyped key screens for both platforms. I took ownership of core elements including the adherence page for PTs, sections of the clinical dashboard, login flows for patients, and game-like elements to motivate AR interactions. These mid-fi prototypes laid the groundwork for future iterations.
Midway through development, we pivoted toward incorporating video-based analytics to help PTs make data-informed decisions. I led the design and integration of this video workspace into the platform, balancing technical feasibility with HIPAA-conscious privacy design. Working closely with our interaction designers, I helped finalize how adherence and performance data would be visualized and delivered.
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We delivered a fully interactive, high-fidelity prototype of both the therapist portal and patient AR experience.
Due to project time constraints, there were limitations regarding post-design validation data. However, the product validation methodology was to leverage Microsoft product desirability methods to determine market feasibility. Based on the data, the team would've either moved forward with product launch + implementation or back into design development. The products were also visually displayed at an exhibition.
The final product publicly showcased with live demonstrations a proof-of-concept of the WebXR + Web portal product and product design artifacts to communicate the design process including the opportunity for user feedback gathered during the event.
PART was the most comprehensive and collaborative project I’ve worked on to date. It challenged me to work across domains—balancing patient empathy, clinical workflows, and technical feasibility. I learned to lean on my teammates when needed and grew more confident in articulating design rationale across disciplines. Despite time limitations, our team delivered a solution that was both functional and forward-thinking.