It seems like the interest in digital devices to track and improve health is hotting up even more with news stories linking Apple with hiring medical device experts, developing health related apps and developing technology to predict heart attacks. The iWatch seems likely to become a reality later this year and it could look something like this (NB this is not an iWatch but if it was I think would sell!):
However many health related tracking digital devices are already here and recently I came across two interesting concepts developed by Lumo BodyTech which both address posture as well as tracking other activity measures.
Lumo Back is worn on a belt around the waist and monitors posture in sitting, time spent sitting, numbers of times you stand and also steps taken. It aims to encourage good posture with a vibration indicating when it detects you slouching and also feedback charts which show overall time spent with good and poor posture.
Lumo Lift is a new product that is again focused on posture but this is a device attached to the upper body and is designed to encourage good upper body posture. In a similar way it can prompt you when it detects you have poor posture with a vibration and also tracks data on your overall time spent with good and poor posture. This data can be viewed on-line or on your phone so you can track your progress over time hopefully encouraging long term behaviour changes.
I’m sure you have seen many patient issues that could be improved by adopting a better posture. Perhaps these devices are a method we can use to turn our advice into improved behaviours and outcomes?
If this is of interest you might want to take a look at more information on health related self tracking phenomenon.