I accepted an offer from Richard Schwabacher, executive director of sports and diagnostic solutions at Quest Diagnostics, to find out what the company’s test could tell a middle-aged has-been like me. I received results from 43 tests — including measures of red and white blood cell counts, glucose, triglycerides, hemoglobin, cortisol, cholesterol and vitamin D. Two of my test values, estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) and creatinine, were marked in red — outside of the normal range. Both of these measures have something to do with kidney function, which sounded frightening.
My results came with an appointment with Bunny Foxhoven, a registered dietitian nutritionist and senior clinical educator for Quest.1 “I wouldn’t worry now,” she said, but she suggested that I get retested in three months to see whether the results were still out of the normal range. The low eGFR number and high creatinine level could signal a kidney problem, she said, or they could mean that I’m eating more protein than my kidneys can easily process.
After asking a bunch of questions about what I eat, she instructed me to cut back on salt and talk to my doctor. “You do want to get on it before it’s at the point where you can’t repair it,” she said of this as-yet-unconfirmed kidney malady.
According to the official online store, Apple has apparently discontinued the distribution of Beddit sleep monitors.
The Cupertino outfit purchased the Finish-based sleep tracking company back in May. At the time it seemed like a logical acquisition considering Apple does not have proprietary software for tracking sleep on its smartwatch. After the acquisition, Apple continued its sales and integrated the Beddit support into its regular support.
If you check Apple’s website now, the Beddit 3 Sleep Monitor has been listed as “Sold Out.”
A couple of years ago I wrote about an interesting new technology, called the SNIFFPHONE. It was a breathalyzer device that when connected up to your smartphone analyzed your breath and was able to alert you to any number of possible diseases.
Suffice to say, such capabilities are still nowhere near the mainstream, but a recently published paper in Biomedical Optics Express highlights the progress being made. It documents new software that’s designed to track how fast a person is breathing by using mobile thermal imaging technology. The team believe it could be used to monitor for everything from breathing problems in the elderly to sleep apnea.
… Activity trackers start off by combining resting heart rate, age, gender, weight, and other personal information to arrive at an initial value. For a more precise score, the wearables use the relationship between pace and heart rate during your runs. This is because individuals with higher VO2 Max have a lower heart rate while running at the same pace compared to individuals with lower VO2 Max.
This requires you to run for at least 10 minutes, ideally with a device that also tracks GPS. You may need to go on several runs that are at least 10 minutes for a more precise score. It is believed that this method can achieve 95% accuracy compared to lab tests. When measuring, you also need to make sure that you run on flat terrains, as your score may be distorted if you are running uphill or downhill.
… The idea is simple: the app would track your runs and for each run you would accumulate points that translate into a payout. In its initial incarnation, Runister was a monthly subscription app ($1.99/month) with a complex system of points, levels and other gaming feature. Although many runners loved it – there were still some aspects that were too complicated for many others.
That’s when Alba and Matej – the brains behind Runister – decided to make the app free, simplify its rewards system and change business model.
Swarms of drones follow you while you run, recording video of your workout. Sensors hidden in your T-shirt track your heart rate and how many calories you’re burning. Your sunglasses log your miles and respond when you ask, “How’s my pace?”
No, you and those sci-fi gadgets aren’t starring in the next action-packed Marvel flick. Rather, those gadgets might be the future of fitness trackers, according to sports technology experts.
As wrist-worn wearables phase out, less invasive and more personalized devices may phase in, said Gina Lee, founder of the Legacy Sports Institute, a health-care facility for professional and amateur athletes slated to open in Alpharetta, Georgia, by the end of the year.
JetBlue passengers flying from Boston to Aruba can now present a new kind of boarding pass, one impossible to misplace: their faces. In lieu of handing over a paper ticket or summoning up a smartphone version, beach-bound commuters simply walk up to the gate and pause in front of a camera. After snapping a head shot, the camera relays the image to U.S. Customs and Border Protection. There, biometric software compares it against databases of passport, visa, and immigration images. If the computer finds a match, a screen at the gate flashes a green check mark—the universal “go” sign meaning you’re cleared to drag your wheelie bag and stuffed-animal pillow down the gangway.
Biometric boarding probably wasn’t what Xerox PARC chief technologist Mark Weiser had in mind when he coined the term “ubiquitous computing” in 1988. Yet JetBlue’s experiment is a perfect example of what lies ahead—what the late computer pioneer called “the age of calm technology.” Weiser believed that if computers are ever to become truly useful, they need to get out of the way. “The most profound technologies are those that disappear,” he wrote in 1991. “They weave themselves into the fabric of everyday life until they are indistinguishable from it.”
We’re in the early days of an era when computing is discreetly all around us, whether it’s facial recognition that speeds us through airports, a cast of virtual assistants that reads us the daily rush-hour report, or software that keeps offensive comments offline—all of which are being made possible by advances in artificial intelligence and machine learning.
Objective: To determine whether Dr. Scholl’s Active Series (DSAS) footwear insoles alter biomechanical variables associated with running injuries.
Design: Randomized, controlled experiment.
Setting: Sport medicine and biomechanics gait analysis laboratory.
Participants: Fifteen healthy adults.
Interventions: The control condition was the participant’s own athletic footwear. The experimental condition was the participant’s own athletic footwear plus a DSAS insole. Participants completed running gait analysis trials with each condition.
Main Outcome Measures: Peak vertical loading rates (VLRs), peak ankle eversion velocities (AEVs), peak ankle eversion angles (AEAs), and knee abduction angular impulses (KAAIs) were calculated and compared between the control and DSAS conditions because these variables have been associated with plantar fasciitis (VLRs), tibial stress syndrome (AEVs, AEAs), and patellofemoral pain syndrome (KAAIs).
Results: Dr. Scholl’s Active Series insoles reduced VLRs across participants by 16% (P < 0.001) but had no consistent influence on AEVs, AEAs, or KAAIs. Participant-specific responses showed that most runners either experienced AEA and KAAI reductions or no change with the DSAS insole, whereas AEVs commonly increased with the DSAS insole.
Conclusions: Dr. Scholl’s Active Series insoles demonstrate efficacy in reducing VLRs, which are associated with plantar fasciitis. Biomechanical changes to variables associated with tibial stress syndrome (AEVs, AEAs) and patellofemoral pain syndrome (KAAIs) were inconsistent.
Custom sneakers can usually take weeks, if not months, to be made, but Asics is going to make you one the same way you make instant ramen.
The sportswear giant says it’ll soon introduce microwaves in its stores that can “bake” soles in just around 15 seconds.
It’s still in testing, but the company has produced an official site and videos illustrating the process, so it looks like it’ll happen sooner than later.
Meet the new Asics Dynamis, a pair of running shoes that will have you rethinking your entire policy on double-knotting. The Dynamis are powered by the BOA, an ultra-simple lacing system you might recognize from trail shoes and spin shoes. Instead of knotting and making bows, all you do is rotate a tiny dial clockwise, instantly tightening a series of thin laces on the top of each sneaker. Need a tighter fit? Turn that dial another centimeter or so. Want to loosen up? Gently pull the dial, essentially “unlacing” the shoe and starting over again.
The motion of our hands, fingers, feet, and other parts of our bodies is pretty complicated. Our bodies are curvy and their shape varies significantly from one person to the next, so accurately measuring the mechano-dynamics of different body parts requires more than just attaching accelerometers to them. There are pretty accurate electronic strain sensors in existence, but they have limitations such as being influenced by external electromagnetic fields. Engineers at Tsinghua University in Beijing, China have now developed a way to use a special optical fiber to detect minute changes in the movement of various body parts. The advancement will hopefully help patients undergoing musculoskeletal rehabilitation, athletes improve their training techniques, and everyone to play video games in an exciting new way.