You know what it’s like: You sit in front of your computer for hours, usually a little slouchy because it’s more comfortable and hard to remember yourself to sit straight. You only get up to grab a coffee and snack and a short chat with your colleagues. In the evening, your back is hurting. Or sometimes it’s the other way around: you are really happy that you motivated yourself to do an extended workout on a rainy Sunday, but suddenly you feel like – well, you are stuck in a complicated yoga pose.
Our spine is a fragile body part; to keep it and yourself healthy you have have many things in mind – especially when you are not twenty anymore. There are a lot of gadgets on the market helping you to correct your posture and several who even claim to replace a personal coach whilst doing sports to improve your performance and to avoid the risk of injuries.
Namu’s ALEX is positioned at the neck and can measure the exact position of your head and neck to determine bad posture. The information is sent to your smartphone via Bluetooth 4.0 LE. You can customize the reminders (e.g. the frequency and intensity of the alerts), as well as the companion coaching app. The Namu app guides you to address bad habits and tracks your progress constantly. The battery lasts up to seven days. The product has already reached their goal on Kickstarter, but you can still support ALEX until Tuesday this week. Shipping to the backers will start in May 2016.
PortuspineWear is another posture tracker worn at the neck. The device measures your pose and movement (via accelerometer, gyroscope, magnetometer, etc.), and sends the data to the mobile phone. The app shows you the improvements and achievements you made according to your previously specified goals. If you like, you can use the entire ecosystem and transfer the data to a cloud. Health experts, ergonomists and doctors can give tips for a better posture in real-time.
TruPosture is a smart shirt designed to improve your posture and reduce back pain. The multi-sensor technology tracks the alignment of the entire spine and trains you with feedback by visual displays and vibrations to help you maintain the ideal posture. Shipping starts in March 2016 and the shirt will cost about $99.
J!NS MEME comes in the shape of glasses. Three-point electrooculography sensors are located on the nose pads, capture changes in blinks and eye movements and that way can determine your physical condition, e.g. your level of concentration, fatigue, or composure. The accelerometer can detect slightest changes in your body axis and the gyroscope detects changes in your mind and body. Depending on the model you bought you can use the device to boost your running performance or use the alert function to warn when you are close to falling asleep whilst driving.
Upright, is a sensor worn at your back which comes with a smart learning algorithm and personalized training program. It is available for $129.95.
Prana helps to improve your posture by analyzing your breath patterns and Zikto is an activity tracker wristband that helps you walk straight
We already know Lumo Lift, a tiny device which can be clipped onto your shirt and reminds you to sit straight with gentle vibrations. Their new product is called Lumo Run, smart shorts which can coach you to run more efficiently, and to decrease the risk of injury. The app analyzes your biometrics and via the headphones you get real-time feedback based on cadence, breaking, pelvic rotation, stride length, bounce, ground contact time. The pants are available for $99 early bird offer until March 31.
We already introduced several solutions for a better training experience in our smart clothing article. If you are more interested applications for rehabilitation, click here.
