Telluride Venture Accelerator: BaziFit

09 Jun Telluride Venture Accelerator: BaziFit

Inflamed bursitis. Arthritis. Chronic or acute musculo-skelotal pain. Frozen shoulder. ACL tear. Low back, neck, shoulder pain. Osteoporosis. Sports injury.

BaziFit team

Please raise your hand if you have ever had to visit a physical therapist for any of the above very commonly treated conditions. Thought so. This is Telluride after all, where pushing limits is the norm and torn ligaments, sprains, dislocations and broken bones are as much a part of the landscape as our iconic mountains.

Physical therapists are highly-educated, licensed healthcare professionals who can help patients reduce pain and improve or restore mobility – in many cases without expensive surgery or the side effects of medications. But physical therapy is only as effective as the patient receiving the intervention and according to online sources, in general, 20% to 30% of patients don’t show up for scheduled appointments and of those who do, only about 40 percent are compliant with rehab protocols. What would happen if providers were given a tool that would allow them to easily make a customizable virtual training regimen available to their clients?

Enter BaziFit, one of five start-ups working with the Telluride Venture Accelerator program to attract investors an bring their unique ideas to market.

The goal of Bazifit is to develop the most accurate, all-encompassing, wearable biometrics device in the world to increase the effectiveness of doctors and physical therapists by allowing them to better access a patient’s biofeedback. The device will also improve the effectiveness of tele-medicine and tele-training, the future of health care.

Bazifit’s device is called BaziBAN or Body Area Network. It consists of wearable sensors placed strategically on the body that capture range of motion, movement mechanics, balance and stability. The data are sent wirelessly to the patient’s smart device and on to the physical therapist, who can then track a patient’s progress and better assess when an individual is ready to return to play.

Tallis Salamatian is the CEO of Bazifit. Tallis has had four knee surgeries so he was all too familiar with the difficulties facing therapists and their patients when he came up with the idea of a wearable device to track a patient’s progress. On a trip to Greece back in 2012, Tallis had a chance meeting with a professor of biophysics from the University of Patras in Greece, one of Europe’s leading research institutions. Dr. Nicolas Pallikarakis is now Bazifit’s lead researcher. His team at the university developed the wearable device Tallis, an MBA graduate, had envisioned. BaziBan is currently testing.

A video explaining the basics of the product is here.

To learn more about Tallis Salamatian and BaziFit, click here to eavesdrop on our conversation.