A number of back braces have come out over the past few years that are aimed at helping patients better manage their back problems, and many of them use technology for this. The newest of these is called the Lumbia.
The Lumbia is a back brace that goes the extra step. Not only does it sense when the wearer is using bad posture, but it can send this data to the wearer AND the wearers therapist.
While the Lumbia may look like any old back brace, it isn’t one. The Lumbia contains a number of sensors and activators that are placed over the key parts of the wearers body in order to ensure that it can sense when the wearer is using bad posture. In particular, the Lumbia monitors the wearers oblique, latissimus, dorsi and extensor spinae muscles.
While assessing the wearers posture, the Lumbia will perform a number of exercises. The data that is gathered can be gathered by the device and wirelessly transmitted to the therapists PC. Not only does the brace collect and transmit data, but if the wearer is not using the appropriate muscles for certain actions, the device can vibrate in the areas that are not being used properly. Because the Lumbia transmits data in real time to the PC, the therapist can then deduce the exact cause of the problem, and much better help the patient.
The Lumbia is being developed by Tecnalia, a Spanish research center, in partnership with FIK and BTS Bioengineering in Italy. It should be available for specialists next year.
