Week-by-week ACL recovery companion

The idea

ACL recovery is nine months long, and patients see their physio for a fraction of it. Between visits they oscillate between doing too little (afraid) and too much (bored), with no sense of whether week 7 looks like it should. Generic PT apps sell clinicians exercise libraries; nothing owns the patient’s own nine-month arc.

The wedge is single-condition depth: one injury, one timeline, phase gates lifted from published protocols (extension, quad activation, hop-test symmetry) instead of a configurable everything-app. Anchoring the whole product to surgery date means every screen answers the one question patients actually have: am I on track for month X.

Who pays

The buyer is the patient (or sport parent) facing roughly 400k US reconstructions a year, who already buys 50-dollar recovery ebooks, braces, and cryo cuffs the week after surgery. One-time 30 dollars via Stripe, with Phase 1 free because week one is when they are searching. Distribution: r/ACL (very active), physio clinics as a recommended companion, and SEO on ACL recovery timeline week by week, a huge evergreen query.

MVP scope

• Surgery-date-anchored 5-phase timeline with graft-type variations
• Daily exercise checklists per phase with clear set/rep targets
• Milestone gates requiring criteria ticks (with PT-confirmed flag), not just elapsed time
• Am I behind status with specific discuss-with-your-physio prompts
• ROM photo log and daily pain/swelling entries with progress charts
• Skip for v1: other surgeries, telehealth or PT messaging, wearable integration, exercise form analysis via camera

Build ACLpath, a React Native (Expo) companion app for the 9-month ACL reconstruction recovery, anchored entirely to surgery date.

Onboarding: surgery date, graft type (BTB, hamstring, quad, allograft — this shifts early-phase caution notes), and confirmation that a physio is supervising. Show a persistent frame: this is a companion to your PT programme, not a replacement, and milestones need PT signoff.

Structure the recovery as 5 phases based on published protocols (e.g. Fowler Kennedy, MOON): Phase 1 weeks 0-2, Phase 2 weeks 2-6, Phase 3 weeks 6-12, Phase 4 months 3-6, Phase 5 months 6-9. Each phase has daily exercise checklists (sets/reps, short looping video or illustration) and entry criteria gates: full extension, quad set quality, walking without crutches, single-leg balance time, and later hop-test symmetry percentages. A phase does not unlock by date alone; the user must tick the gate criteria, ideally marked PT-confirmed.

Am I behind check: compare current week against typical milestone windows and show green/amber/red with a specific talk to your physio about X message, never exercise prescriptions beyond the current phase.

Extras: ROM photo log (side-on knee photos with an on-screen angle guide), pain and swelling daily quick log, and a countdown to typical return-to-sport testing.

Screens: Timeline, Today checklist, Milestones, ROM log, Progress charts.

Stack: Supabase for accounts and sync, Stripe one-time 30 dollar purchase after a free Phase 1.