That AI Physio Service - Chewing It Over with Finn Stevenson

In this episode of Chewing It Over, Jack speaks with Finn Stevenson about Flok Health and the idea of an AI physiotherapy service for back pain. Finn frames the problem clearly: in musculoskeletal care, especially within the NHS, the issue is often not knowing what works, but getting timely access to the care that already exists. With demand rising faster than workforce growth, traditional one-to-one care models struggle to keep up.

Finn explains that Flok is not positioned as a software tool sold to clinicians, but as a regulated clinical service that combines AI with remote human physiotherapy support. Its current focus is spinal pain, particularly the large group of patients who can benefit from personalised exercise, reassurance, behaviour change support, education, and psychologically informed care. The ambition is to automate large parts of the pathway safely and consistently, while freeing face-to-face clinicians to focus on more complex cases.

A major part of the conversation explores how this works. Finn distinguishes Flok’s system from standard large language model chatbots, arguing that healthcare needs much tighter behavioural control. He describes a rule-based clinical reasoning system combined with a video-based interaction model built around “Kirsty,” a real physiotherapist whose filmed responses are assembled in real time to create a more human and engaging consultation experience.

The discussion also tackles controversy: what counts as “physiotherapy,” whether this threatens the profession, and what happens when technology enters clinical care at scale. Jack remains probing but open-minded, while Finn argues that the bigger ethical issue is leaving patients stuck on long waits for care we already know how to deliver.

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