Technology can have both good and bad impacts. Forexample, computers make it easier to get work done, manage records better, and engage in social networking, among other things. One of the downsides is that computer has has restricted the movement of people. Many of us sit for hours at a time, hunched over in one position. This has led to multiple problems including obesity, bad posture, and back pain, to name but a few.
Manufacturers provide a number of approaches for back pain and posture management. TruPosture is a smart shirt from Adela Health that is designed to address these problems. While it is still under development, the concept is that it sends gentle vibrations to help the wearer maintain an ideal posture. The shirt, worn as an undershirt, is embedded with multi-sensor technology that tracks alignment of the person’s spine. Via its TruPosture mobile app, it will provide feedback as well as train the smart shirt wearer about ideal posture. The mobile app also provides a reference to how the spine should be compared with how it is now; this allows the wearer to see the difference and work towards improvement. The smart shirt provides gentle electronic reminders to the wearer to straighten the back when the posture changes. TruPosture shirt needs to be charged once a week using a USB charger. While there are pros to this shirt like avoidance of back pain and other related issues and conditions, there are potential areas of concern as well. The shirt will have to be durable enough to withstand repeated washing, and then there is the question of how many of the shirts a person would need to own in order to be able to wear one every day.
There are various wearable posture management solutions, such as Lumo Lift, available in the market today that provide some of the same functionalities but with much smaller non-intrusive devices. The success of TruPosture will depend on many things, key among them will be the size and fit of the shirt and its price.
