Why Physios Need Access to Their Patients’ Wearable Data

It’s 2025, and our patients’ watches know more about their recovery than we do.

Their heart rate variability drops three days before they flare up. Their sleep tanks the night before their pain spikes. Their step count, training load, and resting heart rate are quietly tracking how their body is coping.

But as physios, we don’t see any of it.

The Blind Spot in Modern Physio

Right now, most physiotherapy care is built on snapshots: what a patient tells us in the consult, what we observe in clinic, and what we measure at isolated points in time.

Yet the body doesn’t recover in snapshots. It recovers continuously — influenced by sleep quality, stress levels, activity load, and daily recovery habits.

We know these factors are massive. Poor sleep slows tissue healing. Chronic stress drives up sensitivity. A sudden spike in activity load triggers overuse injuries.

But without data, we’re flying blind.

Unless your patient happens to be a professional athlete with a sports science team feeding you HRV trends and training loads, you’re probably relying on guesswork and anecdotes.

Why Wearable Data Matters

Wearables — from Apple Watches to Whoop Bands and Garmins — have moved beyond step counts. They’re tracking HRV, recovery scores, sleep stages, readiness, and strain with remarkable accuracy.

For physios, this data could change everything:

• Sleep quality can help predict recovery windows and readiness for load progression.

• HRV trends can reveal when a patient’s nervous system is under stress, helping explain flare-ups.

• Activity levels can highlight when someone is over (or under) training between sessions.

• Stress and recovery scores can guide when to dial treatment intensity up or down.

This isn’t about turning physios into data analysts — it’s about connecting the dots.

The Problem: We Don’t Have Access

Right now, wearable data lives in silos. Patients track it on their apps, maybe glance at it occasionally, and rarely bring it to their appointments.

As physios, we’re left asking:

“How’s your sleep been?”

“Are you doing much activity outside our sessions?”

“Have you been feeling more stressed lately?”

Important questions — but vague answers. “Pretty good,” “not really,” and “a bit” don’t cut it when recovery depends on specifics.

The Future: Data-Driven Recovery

This is the gap Preve is working to close.

Preve is building a system that connects wearable data directly to the patient’s recovery plan, giving physios visibility into:

• Sleep trends and recovery quality

• HRV and stress metrics

• Daily activity levels and step counts

• Exercise volume between sessions

Imagine this:

Your patient comes in after a week where their sleep score dropped and HRV tanked. Instead of pushing harder, you pivot — reduce load, focus on recovery strategies, and coach them on improving sleep hygiene.

Or a patient’s readiness score spikes after consistent sleep and steady training — that’s the day you progress their program with confidence.

It’s the same clinical reasoning you already use, just backed by data instead of guesswork.

Why This Matters for Patients

Patients want to feel seen and understood. When you can point to their recovery metrics and explain how stress or sleep is influencing their pain, it builds trust.

They stop seeing you as just “the injury person” and start seeing you as a holistic health coach — someone helping them manage the lifestyle factors that drive their recovery.

It’s also empowering. When patients see their data linked to progress, they start taking ownership of the habits that accelerate healing.

The Future of Physio is Data-Connected

Wearables aren’t just fitness gadgets anymore — they’re health tools. And physios are perfectly positioned to interpret that data, integrate it into treatment plans, and coach behaviour change around it.

The only thing missing is access.

That’s what Preve is fixing — by bridging the gap between patient wearables and physio insights.

Because the future of rehab shouldn’t rely on guesswork. It should be data-driven, personalised, and continuous.