Muscular Dystrophy (MD) is a set of genetic conditions that gradually causes the weakening and breaking down of skeletal muscles, leading to an increasing level of disability. This progressive condition is often at first affecting a particular group of muscles and then deteriorates them over time. Some types of MD eventually affect heart muscles or breathing-related muscles, at which point the condition becomes life-threatening. MD is a rare disorder but also one of the most frequent genetic conditions affecting roughly 1 in 3,500 individuals worldwide. As of today, there is no cure for MD, but treatment including physiotherapy can help to manage the progression of symptoms.

Physiotherapy for patients with MD is fundamental, albeit needs to be highly personalized to ensure a sufficient level of muscle stimulation while not causing an overstimulation that could cause further damage of the muscles. In Germany and Europe, only a few physiotherapists are trained to provide this expert service. Worse, there is a significant barrier to accessing these professionals given the mobility constraints of many patients. In sum, patients affected by muscle dystrophy need personalized and engaging physiotherapy to maximize their quality of life and potentially decelerate the progressive condition. 

Team SUMUS is developing a virtual physiotherapist tool to engage and correctly guide muscle patients to a well-balanced life with the right amount of training. The individualized training syllabus is devised by a physician and a physiotherapist in close coordination with the patient. Part of the solution is the SUMUS Smartwatch application that tracks any active movement of the patient’s arms (initial prototype) in daily life and then advises the patient whether to train, which exercises to use, and to what extent. The physiotherapist and the physician can monitor progress continually via captured longitudinal data and adjust individual training plans with patient input as needed. This mutual feedback feeds into a self-learning algorithm to ensure continuous optimization of the patient’s fatigue monitoring and training.

In the future, SUMUS could be extended by further technologies to also cover additional body parts, e.g., sensor shirts, and additional digital physiotherapy applications. With an increase in use of the SUMUS application, real-world evidence will be generated to develop, validate, and monitor new therapies and hopefully lead to a cure for MD.

 SUMUS combines interdisciplinary expertise in neurology, muscle dystrophy diagnosis and therapy research at Charité and MDC, physiotherapy, computeraided medical robotics, and game-based learning. The team is working with advisors in user experience, hardware and software development and reimbursement.