Recovery tracking
How I ask patients to track recovery after spine surgery
A simple daily record — pain, walking, wound, and sleep — shows whether you're trending the right way and makes follow-up visits far more useful. Here's what to track, and the free app I built to make it easy.
Disclosure: Dr. Tuchek developed EasySpine and has a financial interest in SpineOS. He recommends the free tracking habit below regardless of which tool you use — a paper log works too.
The daily habit
Four things worth tracking every day
Consistency matters more than the tool. Track these four and bring the record to your follow-up.
Pain
A 0–10 level each day. The trend matters more than any single day.
Walking
Short, frequent walks help recovery more than one long walk. Steps count.
Wound
A daily look at your incision catches redness, drainage, or opening early.
Sleep
How you slept is one of the clearest signals of how recovery is going.
EasySpine — the app I built for this
EasySpine is a free iPhone app, currently available in TestFlight beta. It logs daily pain and walking (auto-filled from Apple Health), wound photos, and standard outcome scores like ODI and NDI — so your recovery is documented, not guessed. Not on iPhone? A web patient portal is available.
Disclosure: Dr. Tuchek developed EasySpine and has a financial interest in SpineOS.
EasySpine is not monitored in real time and is never a substitute for calling the clinic or 911.
Recovery · Day 12
Step count auto-filled from Apple Health
Illustrative — free iPhone app, TestFlight beta. No App Store listing yet.
Getting the beta
How to start on iPhone
EasySpine is in TestFlight beta, so it's invite-based — there's no App Store listing yet.
- 1
Install TestFlight
TestFlight is Apple's free app for trying beta apps. Download it from the App Store first.
- 2
Email for an invite
Email hello@spineos.ai to request a beta invite. Keep the subject line as-is so the team knows you came from Dr. Tuchek's office.
- 3
Or use the web portal now
Prefer not to wait, or not on an iPhone? Track recovery today in your browser at the EasySpine web portal.
Disclosure: Dr. Tuchek developed EasySpine and has a financial interest in SpineOS.
Self-guided tracking — not connected to a clinic
By default EasySpine is self-guided: your data stays on your device, and no account is required to start. You choose whether to share anything. Wound photos you add stay in the app on your phone.
Track in any browser
The EasySpine web patient portal works on Android, tablets, and computers — the same daily tracking, no App Store needed. Open the web portal.
Disclosure: EasySpine is a SpineOS app; Dr. Tuchek has a financial interest in SpineOS.
EasySpine is not an emergency channel. It is not monitored in real time. For urgent symptoms — worsening weakness, new numbness, fever, or a wound problem — call the clinic at (785) 368-0767 during clinic hours, or 911 for emergencies.
Ready to track your recovery?
Free — on iPhone (currently a TestFlight beta) or in any browser. Start with a demo if you'd rather look first.
Self-guided tracking — not connected to a clinic. Not monitored in real time; never a substitute for calling the clinic or 911.
Disclosure: Dr. Tuchek developed EasySpine and has a financial interest in SpineOS.