Working life: A day in the life of physiotherapist Ciara Clancy

Ciara Clancy, physiotherapist and CEO of Beats Medical, was recently named Laureate for Europe at the Cartier Women’s Initiative. For details see: www.beatsmedical.com

6.30am

With an international customer base, I’ve an early start at our office in Sandyford to keep up with queries from across the globe. Our product is a smartphone app for people with Parkinson’s disease. In a healthy brain, a signal goes off to cue us to walk but in someone with Parkinson’s, this mechanism is impaired. The Beats App can overcome this impairment by delivering a prescribed sound signal to the patient each day that generates the correct impulses to help the person walk normally.

9.30am

We manage our users and check in regularly to see how they are doing. We help new customers set themselves up on the app. Each day, they click on the app to open it and walk with it in their pocket for two minutes. The app assesses their movement and delivers their metronome treatment for the day. Metronome therapy is based on the regular clicking of the metronome used by musicians to help mark time and keep a beat.

In the case of Parkinson’s, it provides external rhythmic stimulation that helps improve gait and overcome freezing, a characteristic of the disease. Metronome therapy has been used for many years but we are the first to ‘appify’ it so people can access treatment in their own home.

11am

We have an active advisory board at Beats Medical, so I would often arrange a call mid-morning to discuss our progress and strategy.

1pm

I try get out for a walk.

2pm

I’ve a meeting with developers about product add-ons to help improve speech as well as dexterity in those with Parkinson’s. The disease can affect the volume of speech and make it difficult to do things like buttoning a shirt. We want to give patients a more complete toolkit so that they can live as independently as possible.

4pm

We schedule in a couple of free consultations every day. People can sign up online for a two-week trial and we follow up with them. The app costs just €1 a day — we want it to be as affordable as possible. So far there has been good take up and we hope it will benefit many of the 9,000 people in Ireland with Parkinson’s. Evening

For downtime, I try to go to a dance class or get out running once or twice a week.