Legal Notice and Medical Disclaimer

iBetterCoach Version: 1.0 Date: [to be defined]

⚠️ Notice: Essential document for legal protection on a platform that touches on health. Requires review by a Portuguese lawyer before publication.

1. Identification

Legal name: [to be defined] VAT number: [to be defined] Registered office: [to be defined] Contact email: general@ibettercoach.com Website: [URL]

iBetterCoach is a technology platform that supports sport, wellness and health professionals (Personal Trainers, nutritionists, physical education teachers, physiotherapists) in prescribing and monitoring training and nutrition programmes for their clients ("Athletes").

2. Nature of the service — decision support tool, not a healthcare provider

iBetterCoach is NOT a healthcare provider. It is not a clinic, hospital, medical office, clinical nutrition practice or laboratory. It does not employ doctors, nutritionists or physiotherapists who provide care to the Athlete through the Platform.

iBetterCoach is a software tool that:

Organises clinical, anthropometric and sports data collected by the professional or by the Athlete
Applies scientific rules, protocols and models validated in the literature to suggest prescription options
Generates integrated projections that help the professional make more informed decisions
Presents AI-generated explanatory text as a complement to engine suggestions

The qualified professional is always the final decision-maker. Nothing the Platform suggests has clinical effect without the professional having reviewed, adjusted and approved it.

3. Does NOT replace medical advice

The suggestions, calculations, projections, educational content and texts generated by the Platform:

Do not constitute medical advice, diagnosis or treatment
Do not replace consultation with a doctor, nutritionist, physiotherapist or other legally qualified health professional
Should not be interpreted as individual medical recommendations
Are not intended to treat, diagnose, cure, mitigate or prevent any disease

In case of doubt about symptoms, clinical conditions, medication, intolerances, injuries or any other health issue, the user should seek a qualified health professional.

In case of medical emergency, the user must immediately call 112 (Portugal) or local emergency services.

4. Notice for Athletes with clinical conditions

Physical exercise and dietary changes may worsen pre-existing clinical conditions or trigger adverse events. Athletes presenting any of the following must mandatorily consult a doctor before starting any programme based on Platform suggestions:

Known or suspected cardiovascular disease
Uncontrolled hypertension
Diabetes (type 1 or 2)
Pulmonary disease (asthma, COPD)
Renal or liver disease
Eating disorders
Pregnancy or recent postpartum
Active musculoskeletal injury or recent surgery
Chronic medication
Age over 65 without recent screening
Family history of sudden death or early heart disease

The anamnesis integrated in the Platform aims to alert the professional to these signs but does not replace clinical screening.

5. Limitations of the algorithmic engine and AI layer — possibility of errors

⚠️ Important notice: the Platform may produce incorrect information. iBetterCoach uses artificial intelligence and automated calculations that may generate content that is incorrect, outdated, incomplete or unsuitable for the specific case. No information presented by the Platform should be treated as absolute truth.

iBetterCoach is built on an "engine + AI filler" architecture:

The engine applies validated scientific rules and protocols, but does not know the Athlete the way the professional does in person.
AI is used to generate natural text (explanations, summaries, draft suggestions) — not to make clinical decisions.
AI models may "hallucinate", that is, generate plausible but factually wrong text, invent citations, attribute incorrect properties to medications or supplements, or suggest numerical values outside the safe range.
The rule engine may contain implementation errors, formulas outdated with respect to the most recent scientific guidelines, or rely on assumptions that do not apply to every person (e.g., specific clinical populations, elite athletes, pregnancy, paediatrics).
The knowledge base (exercises, supplements, protocols) may be incomplete or contain inaccuracies, and scientific guidelines evolve.
The engine only processes the data it receives — if the anamnesis is incomplete or contains input errors, suggestions will be limited or wrong.

The professional has the duty to critically validate every suggestion, complement it with their in-person assessment, cross-check it against their own reliable sources and adapt it to the specific case. The athlete has the duty to maintain a critical mindset and not to apply anything they are unsure about without first consulting their professional or a doctor.

Pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2024/1689 (AI Act), iBetterCoach expressly informs the user that they are interacting with an artificial intelligence system and that the outputs must be interpreted with a critical mindset.

6. Disclaimer of liability

To the maximum extent permitted by law, iBetterCoach shall not be liable, under any circumstances, for:

Clinical, prescription, training or nutrition decisions made by the professional or by the Athlete based on Platform suggestions
Injuries, adverse events, clinical worsening or other consequences resulting from exercise practice or dietary change
Decisions taken without validation by a qualified professional
Discrepancies between Platform suggestions and the best available scientific evidence at any given moment
Incorrect interpretation or improper use of information by the Athlete
Results not achieved (weight loss/gain, performance, hypertrophy, etc.)
Input errors by the professional or the Athlete

iBetterCoach acts as a support tool. Clinical and professional liability belongs to the qualified professional using the Platform. Personal responsibility belongs to the Athlete who undertakes to follow the programme.

7. Duty to validate sources

The educational content and scientific references on the Platform (e.g., ACSM, ISSN, Athlete's Plate, Meyer et al., FITT-VP) are summaries of the original sources. Users wishing to deepen their knowledge should consult:

Official guidelines from scientific societies (ACSM, ISSN, EFSA, WHO, DGS)
Scientific databases (PubMed, Cochrane, Scielo)
Qualified professionals for clinical clarification

iBetterCoach strives to keep content up to date but does not guarantee that it is always aligned with the latest evidence or most recent guidelines.

8. Intellectual property rights

All Platform content — including texts, layouts, code, prescription models, exercise and food databases, graphic design, the "iBetterCoach" brand and logos — is owned by iBetterCoach or licensed to it, and is protected by:

Portuguese Copyright and Related Rights Code (Decree-Law 63/85)
Portuguese Industrial Property Code (Decree-Law 110/2018)
Regulation (EU) 2017/1001 on the European Union trade mark

Any reproduction, distribution, modification, automated scraping, reverse engineering or commercial use without prior written authorisation is prohibited.

9. External links

The Platform may contain links to third-party sites (scientific societies, articles, equipment vendors). iBetterCoach is not responsible for the content, privacy policies or practices of those sites.

10. Governing law and jurisdiction

This Legal Notice is governed by Portuguese law. Any dispute regarding its interpretation or enforcement shall be submitted to the courts of [TBD], with express waiver of any other jurisdiction.

Without prejudice to the above, consumers may turn to alternative dispute resolution (ADR) bodies under Law 144/2015, namely:

Lisbon Consumer Conflict Arbitration Centre
CIAB (Information, Mediation and Consumer Arbitration Centre)
European ODR platform: https://ec.europa.eu/consumers/odr

11. Contact

General email: general@ibettercoach.com Legal email: legal@ibettercoach.com DPO email: dpo@ibettercoach.com

Document prepared for iBetterCoach. Requires formal legal review before publication.

This document may be updated. The version in force is always the one available on this page.