An accessible fitness chair 

For people with reduced mobility, especially older people in residential aged care or at home and those with disabilities, exercising can be difficult. 

Two clinicians based in Adelaide are designing a solution – the FitChair – a day chair that doubles as a piece of exercise equipment, making exercise more accessible for less mobile people. 

Jack O’Leary pitches FitChair at the PRF Physio Pitchfest in October 2025.

FitChair is the brainchild of APA Titled Sports and Exercise Physiotherapist Jack O’Leary MACP and occupational therapist Jonathan Giannini, who works in disability and aged care. 

The two – friends since high school – were chatting in late 2024 when the shared frustration of getting clients to do their exercises came up. 

‘Exercise works so well but it can be difficult to implement it at a community level or even in the clinic. 

We were talking about it and then Jonathan said, “Well, I’ve had this idea for a long time. What do you think?” And I thought, that’s a great idea,’ says Jack. 

The very first prototype, which Jonathan built using an old wheelchair, hiding resistance bands inside the frame, led to the two clinicians approaching Flinders University for assistance in designing a more user-friendly prototype. 

The FitChair prototype is modelled on a day chair and contains the spring mechanism under the seat. Image supplied by FitChair

‘If you imagine a day chair in an aged care facility, it looks like that. And then underneath the seat is what is best described as like a Pilates Reformer spring set,’ Jack says. 

‘We don’t want the chair to look like a piece of exercise equipment. We want it to look like a chair but within the frame and built into the chair is the mechanism that allows exercise to be performed.’ 

The current version of FitChair allows the user to do lower limb exercises. 

The pair hopes that the next prototype will also incorporate upper limb exercises as well as refinement of the lower limb component to allow for greater range of movement in the exercises. 

Limited testing of the prototype within the project team has been positive, providing feedback about refinements needed. 

Once a more functional prototype has been designed – in about 12–18 months – Jack and Jonathan plan to do pilot studies, most likely in an aged care setting. 

They also plan to develop an app to be used with the chair, which will support the delivery of tailored exercise programs, allow the collection of clinical data and promote usability and engagement. 

Currently, the exercises they are focusing on are similar to those used by physiotherapists offering the GLA:D program for osteoarthritis and those used in the SUNBEAM clinical trial for falls prevention in aged care. 

‘We’ve got a lot of ideas in that space about apps and gamifying the use of the chair. That’s exciting stuff but it’s a long way down the line so we’re not thinking too much about it yet,’ Jack says. 

Ultimately, they hope to take FitChair through Flinders University’s medical device partnering program, part of the innovation hub at the university. 

FitChair’s early stage of development didn’t deter Jack and Jonathan from entering their idea into the 2025 Physio Pitchfest competition, reaching the final stage of the competition, the live pitch. 

Although they didn’t win, the experience was valuable. ‘Pitchfest was really good – it made us distil our ideas down a lot. You’re forced to condense your information into what it is you’re actually trying to do. And just talking to other people who’ve been through it was helpful,’ says Jack. 

He says that the concept has been well received, not only by the judging panel and other physiotherapists at Pitchfest, but also by people outside allied health. 

‘I think it’s because everyone knows how beneficial exercise is and there’s so much evidence now to support good health outcomes with resistance training.’ 

Digital toolkit for knee pain 

For many people with chronic knee pain and other musculoskeletal conditions, simply accessing a physiotherapist, let alone joining a program like GLA:D, can be difficult. 

Barriers include finances, work schedules and geography. 

To combat this, Kim Ward MACP, an APA Titled Sports and Exercise Physiotherapist and management consultant, has developed an app to help people understand and manage their knee pain independently. 

The Knee Pain Toolkit app is one of a series of planned toolkits under the Selphex banner. 

The Knee Pain Toolkit provides education about knee structure and function, along with exercises and information about managing load on the affected knee. 

Kim Ward presents the Knee Pain Toolkit to the judges and audience at Physio Pitchfest. Image supplied by Michael Blyde

‘It’s not meant to replace seeing a physio; it’s for people who can’t get access to physio at the time. 

It’s about understanding how your knee is built, how it works in real life, where the holes in that system can be and what you can do about them. 

There’s plenty of evidence that strengthening and control programs help people with a range of different musculoskeletal conditions but getting access to them is a problem for many people,’ Kim says. 

The app is based on best practice guidelines for treating knee pain, including the Osteoarthritis of the Knee Clinical Care Standard, which was updated in 2024, but designed for a consumer rather than for the clinician. 

‘I love the Clinical Care Standard – in my role as a management consultant, I can use it to help payers of health services understand what good clinical care looks like – but while the app is aligned with those principles and solidly evidence-based, I found that including everything for everyone was just too much and too overwhelming for people,’ Kim says. 

Kim developed the initial version of the Knee Pain Toolkit herself and is currently in the middle of a rebuild, based on feedback from beta testers. 

She hopes to release a basic version of the app and add features later. 

‘I am starting to look at the what-ifs and I do have other versions of it in my head that are much more advanced, with an interactive component, but I don’t have the technical skills to implement that. 

The technology exists and I know how it would be applied but I need to find the right partner to help me make that happen in real life.’ 

The Knee Pain Toolkit by Selphex was a finalist in the 2025 Physio Pitchfest competition and Kim pitched her idea in front of a live audience and judging panel. 

It was a valuable experience for Kim as she grappled with developing the app. 

‘It was good for clarifying my thoughts and starting to think about how it all fit together and how it would be perceived by my fellow physios.

Some people really worry about it being a replacement for a physio and it’s not intended to be that in any way. It’s for the people who aren’t seeing physios; they’re the market,’ she says. 

Ultimately, Kim sees Selphex with a range of toolkits that will help people with many different musculoskeletal pain conditions, including hip and groin pain, lower back pain and ankle and foot pain. 

She says that several health insurers she is working with are keen on the app, seeing it as a viable alternative to expensive surgeries for people who haven’t been able to see a physiotherapist. 

A direct-toconsumer approach is also likely to be taken, with the app available through a subscription model. 

‘People don’t necessarily need to keep using it for a long period of time – once they figure out what to do, then I hope they won’t need to keep coming back to it. 

They’ll work out where the holes in their system are and what they need to do to keep on top of it,’ she says. 

‘The demand is there and people keep asking.’

Follow the development of the Knee Pain Toolkit on Instagram at @kneepaintoolkit