Bristol startup Good Boost has secured a £150,000 investment from British Design Fund, as part of a £500,000 funding round, to accelerate the development of its AI-driven aquatic rehabilitation technology.
Good Boost is aiming to transform swimming pools and community spaces into therapeutic places for rehabilitation, wellbeing and healthy ageing.
The company’s unique digital aqua paddles make it possible to quantify human movement in water, aiding patient recovery and athlete conditioning programmes.
According to co-founder and CEO, Ben Wilkins, the pioneering technology is a game-changer for patients, physiotherapists, players and coaches, giving them the ability to analyse and evaluate aquatic rehabilitation interventions accurately for the first time.
Additionally, the ‘world-first’ tech utilises public pools to create community health and wellbeing services, which is particularly important for supporting populations at highest risk of health inequalities.
Good Boost’s mission being to ensure underserved populations have greater access to health, wellbeing and rehabilitation services.
“Pain and joint conditions, collectively known as musculoskeletal (MSK) conditions, affect 20m people in the UK and 1.7 billion people globally,” said Wilkins.
“Many of these disorders can be effectively treated and managed through water-based therapeutic interventions. However, until now, we have been unable to measure movement in water to assess the power, speed or range of movement with any accuracy. We’re delighted to say Good Boost has cracked that engineering challenge.
“On the sports side, injuries account for 60% of player absences, with an average of 2.5 injuries per player, per season. Our technology can help ensure that athletes’ recovery, rehab and conditioning is tailored to individual needs, providing analysis and feedback as part of an athlete’s aquatic recovery programme.”
The latest funding round will support the company’s growth and work within public swimming pools, leisure centres and gym settings, as well as deployment into more specialist hydrotherapy pools and athlete recovery training pools.
It will also be used for further research and development, and the delivery and growth of services and programmes.
Damon Bonser, CEO, British Design Fund, said: “Spotting and understanding a problem and being led by end users to engineer an effective solution is at the heart of Good Boost’s technology. The team are all experts in their field and the innovative technology they have developed has significant potential to support rehabilitation on a global scale. We look forward to working closely with the company as it now seeks to scale.”