We’ve reported on back sensors in the past, e.g. LUMOback which was our Gadget of the Month in June. However, we felt that it was high time to outline the wealth of solutions in the wearables field for back issues:
The Fraunhofer IIS already presented their innovative Fitness Assistant at our WTshows at A+A, Medica and ISPO. This is an intelligent tracksuit that provides a personal health and fitness program to train a better posture.
The IfE Wearable Computing Lab at ETH Zurich has also taken an active interest in this field with a project called Backmanager dating back to 2004. Possible applications for this project include the prevention of sport-related back pain (personal trainer) or back pain during rehabilitation.
We also already reported on an award-winning tiny back sensor developed by two students at the TU Darmstadt last year.
A more design-driven project called Spinovo was presented during the James Dyson Award. Spinovo is an electronic pain relief garment that has been designed to help relieve pain for chronic back pain sufferers.
SpiderMed has a market-ready product. It is an audio posture trainer that helps to eliminate bad posture. Worn at the back and held in place with several straps, the sensor simultaneously corrects 3 types of posture-related issues.
