AVRwell at APTA CSM 2025

The APTA CSM conference in Houston was a whirlwind. It happened February 13 through the 15th. Three days packed with back-to-back demos, insightful conversations, and some really good feedback from PTs, students, and professors, as well as industry leaders. We left feeling inspired, a little exhausted, and more excited than ever about the future of XR in rehab.

First Things First

Let’s start with the first day, unloading the car. We forgot a dolly. Which meant that instead of a smooth, efficient booth setup, we got a vigorous afternoon workout lugging tables, banners, and equipment across what felt like half of Texas. It’s like someone organized a reality show challenge for us: set up a booth in less than 2 hours without a dolly. We succeeded!

Fun Booth

Once we were up and running, our booth became the place to be. Therapists, students, and industry leaders kept stopping by to try AquaVision, and their reactions were exactly what we hoped for.

"I could totally use this on my patients!"

"Wait, I just have to go get a Quest at Costco?"

"Wow! It’s so much more affordable than I thought!”

Admittedly, it really helped that Kristen brought her prize wheel, and people were lined up six or ten deep to spin it and get one of our sea creature plushies, sunglasses or easy grip pens. But while they showed up for the wheel, they left impressed with AquaVision!

We had all three headsets running nonstop, and even our neighboring exhibitors couldn’t resist sneaking over to check it out. The Stanford team across from us were incredibly friendly, and we enjoyed talking to them in-between demos.

It was also great catching up with our friends Andy and Jonathan, both former Penumbra teammates, now contributing to other XR therapy products in their own way.

We are Listening

The best part of the conference was hearing directly from PTs. They loved that AquaVision is available for off-the-shelf headsets, sparing them the expense of an all-in-one system. They were delighted to discover that they could afford high quality immersive therapy in their practice! 

And they gave us fantastic feedback on ways to make it even better.

Clinicians shared ideas on how to adapt activities for different patient needs, and how we can make it easier for them to integrate VR in their facilities. We took a lot of notes.

Many professors and students stopped by our booth. Despite sitting through lectures about VR rehab in grad school, most students never get to experience the technology firsthand, and they were eager to try AquaVision to find out what XR is all about. We’re hoping our affordable solution can bring XR into schools. We’re planning demos at universities to help bridge that gap.

It was very clear that clinicians want more high-quality, customizable VR rehab tools, and we’re working as fast as we can to develop the content they wish for. We are definitely planning for a lot more apps in the next year!

Puppies and BBQ

Between demos, we were hoping to visit the dog adoption booth, but the line was unbelievable! I hope all the pups found good homes, or at least enjoyed their APTA outing to provide emotional support to thousands of exhausted PTs.

Also, somehow, despite being in Houston, Texas, we never managed to try Texas BBQ. We did, however, enjoy a succulent steak at Pappas Bros. after a long day on our feet, and capped the meal with the best crème brûlée ever.

Looking Ahead

APTA CSM confirmed what we already believed: XR rehab is here to thrive and stay, and clinicians are excited at the prospect of affordable, scalable solutions like AquaVision. We’ve got demos lined up in Los Angeles, Waco and Nashville, and we can’t wait to bring our apps to more clinics and universities.

A huge thank you to everyone who stopped by, shared insights, and tried AquaVision. The future of rehab is immersive, and we’re just getting started.

I should mention that this was the first time that Kristen, Emily and I had ever met in person, even though we’d worked together for 5 years prior at Penumbra, remotely. It was amazing, and we’re looking forward to the next opportunity to hang out at an event!

And next time, we’re bringing a dolly.