These Brothers Are Committed To Solve Our Back Pain Problem Their company uses a spine-function test to understand different types of back pains

You, me and everyone around us have, at one point or another, have dealt with back pain problems. Some of us self-medicate, some visit the physiotherapist and others have to get relief through a surgery. However, all have complained about the pain recurring.

Nithiij Arenja and Anuj Arenja, Founders of QI Spine Clinic, were among the people who were recommended a surgery. But the duo chose otherwise and with their experience started QI to help people deal with a back pain. In a conversation with Entrepreneur India, the Arenja brothers shared their journey as healthcare entrepreneurs.

Straighten Up

Back pain is nothing but an outcome of our sedentary lifestyle, eat -work- sleep routine. According to the American Spinal Decompression Association, low back pain (LBP) affects at least 80% of people globally in their life time, out of which 20-30% suffer from it almost regularly.

So what is new about their approach? Nithiij replied, "We have been working with professors, institutes, individuals and biotech companies. We realized, if we unite the best practices, we can create a protocol which can act fast and deliver result far more effectively than medication and surgery."

Having worked with more than 30,000 patients, the brothers pointed out that every back pain was unique and their idea was to build an intelligent product by marrying orthopedics and physiotherapy.

In healthcare, people work in an isolated manner. For example, an orthopedic surgeon will talk to you about bones while a neurologist will speak to the nerves, a physiotherapist talks about pain relief - depending who you go to, they talk about what they know. As a patient, you will feel you are going door to door without really a comprehensive solution.

"We understand what the problem is and our highly Specialised Spine Physiotherapists give you an objective diagnosis.QI Spine Clinic uses Digital Spine Analysis (DSA), a spine-function test, to understand the cause of back pain. The treatment plan is customized and we have a specific plan for care. There are over a 100 different types of back pain. Depending on the condition, each case will go through a personalised spine rehabilitation programme comprising of diagnosis, pain management, precision treatment & prevention, resulting in a faster & safer recovery" added Anuj.

Hurdles

Despite not having a medical background, the duo did not consider running a healthcare company a challenge. Instead they claimed this helps them to look at the problem very differently.

However, they do face a problem getting medical professionals, who are used to working solo, to work as a team and that's where QI have leveraged its capability, claims Anuj.

Money and Expansions

The brothers declined to comment on funding stating, "Funding is a factor to increase the speed of growth and our preference is frankly not to be driven to external compulsions".

Having said that Nithiij added that they are fortunate to have financial partners on board who recognize and appreciate that QI is healthcare company.

"Healthcare is more about credibility and less about business. Companies who want to tread the profit path (has profit-making intentions) shouldn't really be in healthcare. We believe what's right for the patients has always been right for the organization and the monetary aspect comes as result of this," Anuj shared.

Presently, QI has 28 clinics in India. The co-founders are also scouting for opportunities in form of acquisitions in Europe and US.