Source: Inside Indiana Business

Almost one-third of patients over 70 who are in bed leave the hospital more disabled than they arrived, which can lead to complications and long rehab stays.

A medical doctor and mechanical engineer put their heads together during their Notre Dame undergrad days to create the Bedside Bike.

IU Health North Hospital, IU Methodist, IU Bloomington, and Deaconess in Evansville are studying the device with patients.

Full video transcript:

Hoosiers in four Indiana hospitals are taking a new mobility product for a test ride. A medical doctor and a mechanical engineer put their heads together during their Notre Dame undergrad days, and now nearly 100 Hoosiers are using their creation called, Bedside Bike. Movement is good medicine when stuck in a hospital bed, especially for patients over 65. Within 24 hours, your leg muscles can decondition or atrophy up to 2%. So if you add that up over the course of a hospitalization, like five to seven days, you can see how patients who entered ambulatory, able to walk, leave unable to walk. Almost one-third of patients over 70 years old, who are in bed, leave the hospital more disabled than when they arrived, which can lead to complications and long rehab stays—that Bedside Bike wants to break that cycle. Typically, patients have to wait for a nurse to help them out of bed and walk them, but patients can take Bedside Bike for a spin on their own. It’s actually hard to engineer a device that’s 1) small, 2) lightweight, 3) self-recharging (so it doesn’t require any wires or outlets. It actually recharges itself as you use it), and 4) it’s mobile and portable. So that a patient, if they choose, can leave the device at the bedside and exercise when they feel ready. And it’s safe to leave in the patient room because the footprint’s so small.

The device tackles another major issue in mobility. It’s typically not tracked. We really have no idea if patients are hitting their mobility goals. If they’re walking as much as they should be. Beside Bike includes software that gamifies it for the patient and delivers data to the doctor. The software automatically tracks that data and ports it directly to your providers, who can get a glimpse into everything you’re doing. So they get a better idea of how you’re moving around in the hospital and how you’re recovering before you leave.

IU Health North Hospital, IU Methodist, IU Bloomington, and Deaconess in Evansville are studying the device with patients.

We know that the randomized controlled trial literature says it takes just 20 minutes a day, or like 900 steps, to prevent the complications of immobility entirely. So we know that if we reach those goals and track them, we have a chance of ending this epidemic.

And Bedside Bike is the first product for the Indianapolis-based startup now called KinetiTec. There are other products in the pipeline, and the startup plans to expand its software suites.

It’s a great idea, but how does it connect to the bed? So, the simplicity is part of this brilliance. It is a universal clamp that can fit any hospital bed. And AI is a big piece of this, too. We didn’t get a chance to cover that. Bedside Bike users can compete with other patients, and the technology can predict how long you’ll be in the hospital, and tell you what you need to do to get out of the hospital and go home, not to rehab.

Source: Inside Indiana Business, February 13, 2026