“Symptoms of a concussion can make it difficult to focus and follow complex medical advice, so we wanted to see if an app could help,” said Dr. Shawn Marshall.New research led by Drs. Shawn Marshall and Deanna Quon suggests that an interactive health coaching app may be able to help people recover from a concussion. 

Their feasibility study, published in Frontiers in Medical Technology, involved seven patients from The Ottawa Hospital’s Post-Concussion Research-Based Clinic. Many of these individuals had been dealing with symptoms like cognitive fatigue, headache, depression and visual sensitivity for months. 

The health coaching app provided an easy way for them to track their symptoms, medication, sleep and other factors on a daily basis. It also provided personalized suggestions to improve symptom management. All of the patients found the app helpful and easy to use and most saw their symptoms improve over the course of the study. 

“Symptoms of a concussion can make it difficult to focus and follow complex medical advice, so we wanted to see if an app could help,” said Dr. Shawn Marshall, Head of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation at The Ottawa Hospital and professor at the University of Ottawa.

More research is needed to compare outcomes with and without the app, before it can be made available as part of regular clinical care. The team is also hoping to test the app in people with long-term symptoms of COVID-19, in partnership with Dr. Simon Hatcher.

Authors: Dorothyann Curran, Julia Lauzon, Deanna Quon, Shawn Marshall

The Ottawa Hospital is a leading academic health, research and learning hospital proudly affiliated with the University of Ottawa and supported by The Ottawa Hospital Foundation. 

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