Access to physiotherapy and rehabilitation services cannot always be taken for granted, particularly for people living in remote areas, those with limited mobility or individuals who find it difficult to fit frequent visits to a healthcare professional into their daily lives.
Against this backdrop, advances in digital health are creating new opportunities to deliver care beyond geographical and practical barriers.
In this Success Story, Health Hub turns the spotlight on its partner PhysioKnoWalls, an innovative startup developing a digital-first approach to physiotherapy and musculoskeletal rehabilitation. The company combines remote communication, personalised guidance and objective data collection to bring care closer to patients.
Through its collaboration with Health Hub, PhysioKnoWalls has gained access to business support, European projects, networking opportunities and real-world testing environments. This support has helped the company move beyond developing an innovative service towards generating real-world data, building new partnerships and strengthening its business model.
Digital Physiotherapy Without Geographical Barriers
PhysioKnoWalls was created to reduce barriers to physiotherapy, particularly in musculoskeletal rehabilitation.
As Charalampos Kelesidis, Founder of PhysioKnoWalls, explains, this need is particularly evident among people living in remote areas, people with mobility limitations and patients who cannot easily travel to see a physiotherapist. Remote care can also offer greater flexibility to people with demanding schedules.
The company’s approach follows two different care pathways.
The first is fully remote physiotherapy. PhysioKnoWalls provides an online assessment followed by a personalised rehabilitation programme that patients can complete at home with remote support from their physiotherapist.
The second is a hybrid care model, combining digital guidance with in-person measurements using sensors. These assessments can take place at a pharmacy, health centre or another facility located close to the patient.
From an Idea to Real-World Testing
For a digital health startup, one of the most important steps is moving beyond a controlled development environment and testing a solution in real-world conditions.
PhysioKnoWalls’ participation in the European-funded Agile Piloting initiative, with support from Health Hub, became an important milestone in the company’s development.
Through Agile Piloting, PhysioKnoWalls was able to deploy its hybrid rehabilitation model in a remote community in Central Macedonia.
The process included an online assessment, physical measurements using sensors, a personalised rehabilitation programme and a follow-up assessment at the end of the pilot.
This enabled the team to combine patients’ experiences with objective measurements including strength, range of motion, balance and weight distribution between the lower limbs.
For Charalampos Kelesidis, the experience represented an important step forward. PhysioKnoWalls was able to generate real-world data and assess what worked in practice, what needed to improve and how the service could develop further.
From a Pilot Project to an International Collaboration
Participation in Agile Piloting led to opportunities beyond testing the PhysioKnoWalls solution itself. Through the project, the company connected with a hospital in Milan that was working on the implementation of a remote monitoring system and needed support in addressing practical deployment challenges.
PhysioKnoWalls was able to draw on lessons from its own pilot activities to develop a structured, evidence-informed implementation framework designed to help the hospital organise the deployment of its solution more effectively.
According to Charalampos Kelesidis, the positive response received from the hospital later confirmed that the framework was being used in practice and had helped the organisation address issues that could otherwise have delayed implementation.
The collaboration also opened up a new direction for PhysioKnoWalls itself by highlighting its potential to provide consultancy services around the implementation of remote care and rehabilitation models.
How Health Hub Supported PhysioKnoWalls
The partnership with Health Hub began at an important stage in PhysioKnoWalls’ development. Support covered different business needs, from identifying suitable European funding opportunities and preparing proposals to developing the company’s business plan and receiving personalised business mentoring.
Through Health Hub, the company also gained access to:
- events and activities across the Hub’s network,
- visibility and networking opportunities within the wider health ecosystem,
- the Health Hub Marketplace, where PhysioKnoWalls can showcase its services and connect with potential new partners.
According to Charalampos Kelesidis, working with Health Hub also helped him strengthen his understanding of the business side of building a startup — knowledge that later became increasingly important as the company continued to develop.
Through networking activities supported by Health Hub, PhysioKnoWalls was also able to:
- present the results of its pilot project,
- exchange challenges and good practices with other companies,
- connect with stakeholders across the digital health ecosystem.
For Charalampos Kelesidis, one of the greatest benefits of networking for a startup is the opportunity to discover organisations with complementary expertise. Bringing those capabilities together can help improve a service and, ultimately, create greater value for patients.
What Comes Next: Geographic Expansion and Business Development
The next phase for PhysioKnoWalls is focused on expanding its model across more locations and different care settings.
The company aims to build on the experience of its first pilot project by working with municipalities, regional health authorities and other organisations to bring its services to more remote communities.
According to Charalampos Kelesidis, the positive response during the pilot is an important indication that there is a genuine need for this type of service.
At the same time, PhysioKnoWalls is exploring new ways to deploy its solution in urban settings. This includes the possibility of carrying out assessments in patients’ homes or through local access points such as community pharmacies.
The startup is also pursuing new European partnerships and opportunities to participate in larger European consortia, with the aim of testing its model in other regions where access to rehabilitation services remains limited.
Watch the full interview with Charalampos Kelesidis here: