Startup Surge Motion eyes US expansion 

The company is pioneering a technology in fall prevention for the elderly.

Surge Motion is expanding in the US, where it plans to market its pioneering technology in fall prevention for the elderly.

“One of our strongest initiatives currently is expanding into the US market,” Gary Jin, CEO at Surge Motion, said in a Zoom interview. “Our other initiative is expanding our current footprint in Asia.”

The company raised US$3m from angel investors — mostly friends and family — in 2023 to support a push to increase market reach.

The company has set up a unit in mainland China as it tries to get a bigger pie of the elderly market for its high-tech products, which help people understand their balance abilities to prevent falls.

Most fall prevention technologies for the elderly are designed to detect and alert after a fall occurs, rather than to mitigate the risks beforehand. Surge Motion aims to address this gap.
Surge Motion can identify people especially vulnerable to falls through its Aspire Motion Fall Risk Management.

“We can assess if an individual has a balance deficit, lacks strength, or has vestibular issues and neurological disorders — things they may not even be aware of,” Jin said. “We’re trying to reduce the incidence of falls and minimise the risk of injury that may occur.”

“We're not just focusing on the act of falling itself, but rather aiming to improve the overall health of the elderly population,” he added.

Falls are the second leading cause of unintentional injury deaths worldwide, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). About 684,000 people, mostly adults older than 60 years, die each year from falls.

The financial costs of fall-related injuries are significant, the WHO said. The average health cost per fall injury is US$3,611 for people aged 65 years or older in Finland and US$1,049 in Australia, it said. 

Using Surge Motion’s technology, individuals take part in simple tests: standing still for 30 seconds with eyes open and closed, completing a sit-to-stand test five times, and walking 12 to 20 meters.

These tests are conducted while wearing a belt device. The device is connected to a sensor that is linked to a mobile app that completes the assessment.

The app reports their overall risk level and comes up with tailored recommendations and insights, whilst tracking their progress.

Traditionally, testing a person's balance in a clinical setting can take as long as 30 minutes, but Surge Motion’s technology cuts the time to 90 seconds.

More motivated

Jin, however, said Surge Motion’s technology does not replace doctors or therapists but is designed to help them create an appropriate treatment plan. Currently, 12 public hospitals in Hong Kong use the startup's product in their physiotherapy and occupational therapy departments.

Surge Motion’s other solution called Aspire Motion Connect also helps physicians and therapists monitor their patients remotely.

The device measures a person’s stability while doing balance training and exercise through a wearable device connected to a mobile app.

Jin said it’s important to give patients quantitative metrics so they and their therapists could understand their progress better.

“There have been media reports suggesting that if a person can stand on one leg for 15 seconds, they’re in good health,” he said. “But the real question is, how well did they perform during those 15 seconds? Were they stable or wobbly? How do you quantify that?”

Patients with a clear understanding of their progress are more motivated to continue their exercises, Jin said.

“Having a tool that objectively measures how you're doing something and that kind of makes people think, ‘Oh, you know, I have actually made improvements.’”

Whilst Surge Motion’s technology is mostly used by the elderly, particularly in assisted living communities, Jin said they also want to help the highly functional, moderate-risk group.

He said a lot of focus has been on people who are at very high risk from falls. But the highly functional, moderate-risk group are bound to suffer from a subtle decline in function as they age, he pointed out.

“Their balance may degrade, their strength may decline, and they may not realise it,” Jin said.

Surge Motion’s fall risk assessment can identify many of those risks that are hard to detect visually.

Its technology measures a patient’s stability by how much they are swaying down to a millimetre, Jin added.

Whole health

In the next five years, the startup seeks to advance from merely recommending treatments to also giving them, the CEO said. “When you look at where we are now, we look very much like a medical device company. [We want to] become more of a therapy provider versus a technology provider,” he added.

“One of the common feedback that we have gotten from our customers is that technology is great, devices are great, but what they really want is the healthcare service and not the technology,” Jin said. “It's the service to help them get better.”

He said Aspire Motion Connect, Surge Motion’s remote therapeutic device, has been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration and has earned an ISO (International Organization for Standardisation) certification.

Surge Motion has also partnered with several physiotherapy clinics in the US.

To stay competitive, Surge Motion will continue developing solutions that improve a person’s whole health, Jin said.

“It’s not just about the fall; it's about factors like ‘How well is this person eating? What’s their physical activity like? How are they sleeping? What’s their healthcare condition? And are they experiencing cognitive or emotional issues such as depression?” he asked.

“Having a solution that looks at individuals from a whole-person perspective, paired with technology that aligns with this philosophy, is what will keep us ahead of the competition,” he added.