Matthew Liptak’s MAXM Skate takes off with hospitals interstate and abroad
He’s been working on it for years, but a former footballer-turned-surgeon’s creation has finally got the green light from regulators – and is set to go global.
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He was famous in football boots but former Crows club champion Matthew Liptak’s lasting legacy may be a skate.
The orthopaedic surgeon’s portable health tool for rehabilitation at home after a knee replacement, the MAXM Skate, is taking off.
Eighteen orthopaedic surgeons in the Adelaide Community Healthcare Alliance representing Ashford, Flinders Private and the Memorial Hospital have signed on to use it as has a Melbourne surgeon.
Surgical groups in major centres including Hobart, Townsville, Hervey Bay, Shepparton and the Gold Coast are interested, the company is giving a presentation to the Hong Kong Hospital Authority this week and is “buoyant” about interest from Germany as it eyes a lucrative global market.
The rollerskate-like tool can be used at home for prescribed physiotherapy, with sophisticated monitoring sensors and a smartphone app to ensure exercises are done correctly.
Doctors and physiotherapists can monitor the results remotely, ensure they are done correctly and that the patient really is doing their exercises.
Exercises done incorrectly trigger an alarm.
The skate has been approved by the Therapeutic Goods Administration as a medical device after successful clinical trials, meaning clinicians can trust its information in treatment plans, unlike fitness devices, which check heart rate and blood pressure but are not TGA-approved.
The MAXM team includes names familiar in football changerooms and corporate boardrooms such as Rob Chapman, Dr Steve Saunders, David Pittman, David Whelan and Graham Suter.
Chief executive Rob Bowden, a physiotherapist, said the business plan is to sell the devices to hospitals who would lease them to patients at about $1500 for 12 weeks rehabilitation.
There is no Medicare rebate at this stage but the company is hopeful of securing one.
“There is a real lot of interest here and we see Hong Kong and Germany as two key international markets,” Mr Bowden said. “We are manufacturing locally, at Wingfield and at SMR at Lonsdale.”
Mr Bowden said the agreement with the Adelaide Community Healthcare Alliance is a “milestone” paving the way for an order of 400 units of skates and sensors.
As well as monitoring the sensors remotely, doctors and physiotherapists would hold telehealth consultations to manage wound care as well as movements.
The package includes instructional videos for each activity, guiding patients to perform load strengthening exercises with minimal joint loading during their rehabilitation period.
A control trial showed the device’s potential to save all stakeholders in the health system up to $25,000 a patient, including through early discharge from hospital.
Dr Liptak said the device he has been working on for a decade is safe, effective, cost-effective and “Patients really enjoy it.”
“You get objective data to measure and anything you can measure you want to do better at, whether it is running the 100m or improving your range and movements in rehab,” he said. “You also get immediate feedback on how well you are doing which gives patients a lift.”
He noted some patients call it “rehab on holiday” as they can take the portable system away while recovering from surgery rather than being tied to appointments when transport may be difficult.
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