: Rethinking therapy for athletes :An app aimed at destigmatizing therapy for athletes who are struggling to overcome mental health issues stemming from sport-related injuries.
Mental Muscle
My interest in this area was originally sparked by issues within the football community surrounding CTE, which is a degenerative brain disease caused by repetitive trauma to the head. Most of the market is focused on prevention, but I wanted to look at this issue from the perspective of those that may be currently living with PTSD-type symptoms that arise from sport-related injury for the rest of their lives.
Early research and ideation focused solely on what factors surround or contribute to the problem, and how we might solve for the most urgent of them.
The process involved digging deep into what a life filled with different head trauma is really like. I connected with Ethan, a lifelong baseball player with tons of unique insight surrounding the mental and physical hurdles that come with Craniosynostosis, a fractured skull, and multiple concussions. Through this relationship, I was able to start crafting a series of problem frames that would be the basis for my project moving forward.
Once a handful of glaring issues were identified, I began iterating different ways to overcome them.
The start of the prototyping phase signaled the beginning of formulating something feasible based on all the research gathered up to this point. I decided to use Adobe XD to design and test my concept for a platform that aims to stabilize day to day well-being.
It is through this process that Mental Muscle is born. The app allows the patient to learn about their specific injury and emotions through personalized articles algorithmically chosen based on their inputs, while also recommending other patients within the hospital system to connect with that are battling similar issues.
A patient can share articles and post thoughts to their own timeline, as well as have access to games that directly relate to improving a health zone of their choice: Physical, Mental, Emotional, or Spiritual. These main features were all crafted based on Ethan’s own personal experience where learning about his injury, connecting with an army vet, staying strong in his faith and indulging in physical activity played major roles in the improvement of his well-being.
Client
San José State University
Year
2023