Berlin-based Lindera will use the €6 million funding to help secure international growth and expand its use of artificial intelligence in the healthcare sector. 

WHY IT MATTERS

Studies show that the Lindera SturzApp sustainably reduces the risk of falls by up to 20% in older populations and creates time and resource for care-giving staff.

The app is currently in use in more than 350 care facilities and therapy centres throughout Germany.

ON THE RECORD

Diana Heinrichs, Founder and CEO of Lindera, explained how the technology works to MobiHealthNews. “We generate gait parameters, which are accurate to the millimetre, via the simple, monocular camera found on every smartphone or tablet and validate them scientifically at the highest level.

"Initially, we started with our mobility analysis in elderly care and developed our health application from practical experience. Care-givers use their smartphone and the Lindera app to record a 30 to 40-second video of a person's gait and answer a psychosocial questionnaire with the patient. Based on this input, the AI technology determines the person's precise risk of falling. On average, the analysis takes around ten minutes."

Data from the app’s current use in German care facilities shows an encouraging impact. “In collaboration with the Charité University Medical Center in Berlin and the AOK Baden-Württemberg we tested our SturzApp over 22 months in 16 inpatient care facilities and have just published the results,” says Heinrichs.

“The app reduced the risk of falls by almost 20%, improved gait speed, and greatly reduced the seniors' fear of falling. Among them were 43% dementia patients and 76% who use assistive devices, such as walkers with wheels. Even the motivation of the senior citizens has increased: 92% of them have started planning to improve their health in these existing structures."

In terms of what’s next for Lindera, she says the company “is currently working on applications for clinics and therapists. Lindera apps will soon be in use in physiotherapy and physical rehab, as well as in orthopaedics and neurology, specifically in the areas of back therapy and everything surrounding the musculoskeletal system.

"This is because our 3D AI movement analyses can be used flexibly. We want to support professionals, patients, and private users across a wide variety of life phases and situations to promote mobility as effectively as possible, have fun with movement, and reach their potential,” Heinrichs concludes.