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Aipedia: Osteopaths and chiropractors
You can take a patient's wearable data into account, but you must judge its reliability and handle it as health data. The GOsC lists wearable technology as a form of AI use and expects osteopaths to understand it.
Part of: AI in osteopaths and chiropractors
In short
Patients may arrive with step counts, sleep scores, heart rate trends and activity data from fitness trackers, and some clinics use AI to turn that data into movement reports. The GOsC interim AI guidance names wearable technology as one of the ways AI enters practice and notes that patients may ask osteopaths to consider wearable data as part of their clinical picture. That data is health data under UK GDPR, its accuracy varies, and the record should show how it influenced your decisions. Consumer metrics do not replace examination.
The simplest case is a patient showing you a screen on their phone. More structured set-ups involve the patient exporting data or granting a clinic platform access, after which software summarises activity levels, flags changes and produces a report. Some clinics use wearable data to track recovery, for example step counts after an ankle injury, or to monitor adherence to an activity plan. The data is generated by a consumer device using its own algorithms, which you usually cannot inspect.
The GOsC interim AI guidance lists wearable technology among the forms of AI use and says patients may ask osteopaths to consider data from wearables. The general principles apply: osteopaths remain responsible for clinical decisions, should understand the risks and limitations of the technology, should check output critically, and must protect confidential information. The GCC has not issued AI guidance, but chiropractors handling the same data face the same data protection law.
Consumer trackers are designed for general wellness, not clinical measurement. Step and activity counts depend on where the device is worn and how the activity is performed; some metrics are estimates derived from other signals. Algorithms change with software updates. A sudden drop in activity might reflect pain, a flat battery or a holiday. Treat wearable data as patient-reported context and ask about it, rather than as a measurement you can rely on without question. Where an AI layer summarises the data into a report, there are two sets of assumptions to understand: the device's and the report's.
Data protection law applies to this data in several ways:
Illustrative scenario: an osteopath uses an AI-generated movement report built from a patient's tracker to judge recovery after a knee problem. The report shows activity back to normal levels, so the osteopath discharges the patient without a full reassessment. The device had been counting cycling as walking, and the patient's knee function was still limited. The patient returns with a worse problem and complains that discharge was based on an app rather than an examination.
OPS C2 requires comprehensive and accurate records. Note what wearable data you looked at, its source, what you concluded and what else you relied on. If you discount the data, say why. This shows the decision was yours and individualised, which matters if the outcome is later questioned.
A claim that treatment or discharge decisions were wrong is a professional negligence claim, which the statutory indemnity rules require you to insure. A data protection complaint or breach involving wearable data may fall partly outside PI, depending on the wording; check how your PI and any cyber policy share that risk.
Related: AI posture and gait analysis, AI home exercise apps, telling patients you use AI and the osteopaths and chiropractors AI hub.
Apex arranges PI for osteopaths and chiropractors and can look at whether your cover deals with data incidents as well as treatment claims. See PI for osteopaths.
You can consider it as part of the clinical picture, as the GOsC guidance recognises. Treat it as context rather than a measurement, ask the patient about it, and do not let it replace your own history and examination.
Data about a patient's health is special category data. You need a lawful basis and a condition for processing, and your privacy notice should explain what you collect. Collect only what is relevant to treatment.
It can, with the patient's agreement, but you need to understand what it collects, where it is stored and whether it trains the supplier's model. Limit access to the data you need and cover the arrangement in your privacy notice.
Note the source, what you looked at, what you concluded and what else you relied on. If you set the data aside, record why. That shows your decision was individual and based on your own judgement.
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Start a PI quote Request a callbackApex Insurance Brokers Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Registered in England and Wales, company number 07014570. This page is general information about how AI is used in the profession and how insurance may respond. It is not legal, regulatory or insurance advice on your circumstances, and it does not guarantee that cover will be available or on what terms.
