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.
EasySpine is not monitored in real time and is never a substitute for calling the clinic or 911.
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: a free recovery-tracking app, built by Dr. Tuchek
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.
Getting the beta
How to get EasySpine
EasySpine is in TestFlight beta, so it's invite-based — there's no App Store listing yet. You can request beta access through EasySpine.
- 1
Install TestFlight
TestFlight is Apple's free app for trying beta apps. Download it from the App Store first.
- 2
Request your 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
Choose the web portal if needed
If you do not use an iPhone, the EasySpine web portal works in a browser on Android, tablets, and computers. Use the web portal.
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. Use the web portal.
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.