Date: Feb 06, 2013 Author: Kathleen Gallagher Source: Milwaukee Wisconsin Journal Sentinel (
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With a small computing device of its own invention, Kayo Technology Inc. is out to upend a 100-year-old art.
The Madison company says the device, which attaches to resistance bands, helps physical therapists precisely measure and chart the amount of pressure from a patient's exercise. Then, it transfers the data to computers, smartphones and electronic medical records.
Kayo is optimistic that its device will replace the long-standing art of "manual muscle testing," which requires a patient to push against the hand of physical therapist, who grades the amount of force being used on a scale of zero to five.
The young company, which was formed in 2011, raised $1.3 million in just six weeks at the end of 2012 following a presentation at the Wisconsin Early Stage Symposium in November, said Joseph Hildebrandt, managing director at DaneVest Tech Fund, Middleton.
DaneVest and Phenomenelle Angels Fund led the funding round. Wisconsin Investment Partners and individual angels participated.
Kayo will market the device, called the kiio FLEX, to physical therapists initially. Over time, the company will broaden that to sports teams, fitness buffs, the military and makers of games for the Wii and other platforms, Hildebrandt said.
The company is part of a trend where technology is being harnessed to objectively measure previously subjective tasks and procedures, said Dave Grandin, Kayo's chief executive officer.
"The concept of objective measurement has broadened tremendously," Grandin said. Because it can measure a patient's progress, then store and digitally transfer the information, the kiio device provides valuable information for everyone involved in a patient's treatment, from the physical therapist to the insurance company and the patient's employer, he said.
Medical device companies around the world have been thrown into the growing area of digital measurement and connectivity, said Justin Mortara, chief executive officer of Mortara Instrument, a maker of heart monitoring systems that has offices in Australia, Italy, Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.
"You can go and create the best device in the world, but if it is not going to be connected to the rest of the health care world, it's going to have limited utility," Mortara said. "You cannot ignore this. Ignore at your peril."
The push for connectivity in the medical world is being driven in part by Obamacare incentives for health care providers to adopt the use of electronic medical record systems in the next few years. Those who don't eventually will face penalties under the new law.
"These drivers are all positive for Kayo," Grandin said.
Kayo's device is the brainchild of Bobby Hinds, founder of Madison-based Lifeline USA, a Madison maker of physical fitness equipment. Hinds, a former champion college heavyweight boxer and jump rope world record holder who pioneered the use of resistance bands, wanted a way to quantify the effort, force and work being done while exercising.
"The problem is that right now, there's no way to objectively measure muscle force," Grandin said.
After Hinds had an idea for doing that in 2009, he hired a technology consultant who developed it into an integrated system, then consultants who created prototypes. Hinds later hired Grandin, who created a business plan and founded Kayo.
Grandin previously co-founded four companies, including Avid Sports LLC, whose technology is used in the NFL and NCAA for digital video coaching analysis.
Kayo has potential to be a "significant player" in physical therapy and rehabilitation because it is creating a platform for performance data from its device and physical therapy routines, Grandin said.
"If you don't have a baseline - if you don't have an objective measure - what do you call success?" he said.
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