In any sporting endeavor, it’s widely acknowledged that bad form is the root cause to a majority of injuries sustained during competition. While rehabilitation helps athletes recover and attempts to address this bad form, old habits die hard, especially when constant vigilance is generally needed to ensure athletes are properly learning and implementing better techniques.
The team behind the BioMetrix is hoping to better inform coaches and athletic medical staff about injured athletes under their watch using the thin, flexible device. It can be placed on the heel, hips, or knee to measure stability, rotation, and drift in position in real time with high-resolution captures, with the athlete able to interact with their form as they perform exercise. With this information, everyone involved can consult a web app from any browser to monitor progress and generate reports on that data, all to avoid common injuries.
Unlike other crowdfunding campaigns, this product isn’t for consumers. Rather, the team is looking to have their technology at sports medicine programs across the country in the fall of 2016. Their Indiegogo campaign is strictly to support that end goal, with $25 men’s and women’s exercise tank tops and a $45 weatherproof jacket up for grabs. Very eager backers can shell out $1,000 for the opportunity to beta test and keep two of the devices this fall. The campaign is looking for $10,000 by March 3rd, 2016.
It’s an odd choice to not offer the product in question to consumer as the BioMetrix holds promise with its incredibly thin profile that would no doubt be attractive to those tired of clunky wearables. In the end, it isn’t a traditional wearable and that helps it be what it is now. A similarly low-profile wearable in the spirit of BioMetrix is the runScribe for runners.