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July 2014

The problem: Back pain

Back pain is a very big problem.

Out of all the big health issues that everybody talks about, you don’t hear much about back pain. But…

Back pain is the most common cause of work-related disability,The second greatest reason for doctor visits, And the leading cause of reduced physical function in North Americans under age 50.

That’s a big deal.

Living with back pain is hard.

Some people get better with time, other’s don’t.

Drugs aren’t a good long-term solution- and they don’t really work that well anyway.

It’s a big market, too. Back pain patients spend a lot of money and time with rehab professionals in a clinical setting: over 50 million hours and $8 billion last year

in the USA alone.

If you want to recover from back pain, your best bet is to

work with a trained professional.

Physical therapists and other rehabilitation professionals can make a real difference

for back pain patients.

What does work? Physical therapy.

The hard part about recovery isn’t just making progress in the clinic: it’s building on that progress when you’re at home.

Right now, it’s very difficult for back pain patients track how they move, record when it hurts, and visualize their progress.

The frustrating part is, there aren’t any tools to help.

The hard part with rehabilitation: staying engaged.

Time with the therapist

Time on your own

That’s a serious problem.

Back pain needs a recovery tool.

We need a tool to help patients keep track of how they move, and when it hurts.

We need a tool to help measure symptoms and visualize progress.

We need this tool 24/7, not just during weekly visits to the clinic.

We need to build the home glucose monitor for back pain.

So what’s missing?

We need this for back pain!

Introducing Backtrack.

How you move, when it hurts.

It’s the recovery tool we need for back pain.

What is Backtrack?

It’s a little patch that you wear on your back, which talks to your smartphone and keeps track of how you move throughout the day.

Feeling pain? Just give the patch a quick tap. Now Backtrack knows when you hurt, and what you were doing.

Recovery shouldn’t only happen at the clinic.

Now you can track real numbers and visualize real progress, right from home.

Backtrack lets you see the big picture, plus all the little details too.

Time with the therapist

Time with

What makes Backtrack special?

Wearable competitors all track you as a single point in space. That’s good enough to track how much you’re moving, but not great at telling you how you’re moving.

Backtrack sees you as a shape. It’s a more natural way to track activity, and gives you more insight into how you move.

Alex Daskalov is a hugely talented generalist software developer who can solve nearly any problem thrown at him. After developing an interest in solving new problems with bio-sensing wearable technology, Alex cofounded Backtrack along with Alex Danco in the fall of 2013.

Meet the founding team:

Alex Danco’s background is in neuroscience: he completed his Master’s degree in the neurobiology of chronic pain in 2013, in the laboratory of Dr. Laura Stone at McGill University. Alex then moved over to the startup world, where he met Alex Daskalov in the summer of 2013.

TandemLaunch creates and finances early-stage companies in the consumer electronics field, in collaboration with universities and industry partners across the world. Backtrack has been an incubated investment at TandemLaunch since December 2013.

Meet the full team:

Alex Danco + Alex Daskalov,Cofounders.

Dr. Ladan Mahabadi + Alan Schoen,Data scientists and machine learning experts.

Kayhan Qaiser + Clara Knowles, App & hardware development interns

Dr. Geoff Dover, lead researcherAssociate professor, Concordia University

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Thank you!

www.backtrackwear.com