According to the International Osteoporosis Foundation, the most commonly cited global source on the disease, 1 in 4 women and more than 1 in 8 men over 50 years of age in North America have osteoporosis. Also, 1 in 4 women and men in the same age group have evidence of vertebral fracture. Diet and exercise contribute to bone mass loss, but the primary cause is aging. When older people fall, low bone density too often results in broken hips. According to the CDC, 600,000 people are hospitalized with hip fractures each year. Among the elderly in that group, 25% die within 12 months. We’ve written about ActiveProtective’s airbag belt that inflates when it detects a fall. We also covered McLaren Body Armor designed to protect hips with racecar technology. But a better solution would be to keep bones strong in the first place.

San Francisco-based Bone Health Technologies has developed OsteoBoost, a wearable medical device designed to slow or halt bone mass loss. Users wear the device on the lower back. According to the developers, OsteoBoost mimics weight-bearing exercise with gentle mechanical stimulation to the hips and spine based on whole-body vibration (WBV) technology. NASA developed WBV to help astronauts counteract the effect of zero gravity on bone density. The Mayo Clinic reports that while WBV doesn’t replace regular forms of exercise, WBV has proved to reduce back pain, improve strength and balance in older adults, and reduce bone loss “when performed correctly and under medical supervision when needed.”

Bone Health recommends patients wear OsteoBoost around the waist for 10-20 minutes sessions 3 to 5 times a week to benefit from the device. The company also stated that the Orthopedic Research Society accepted the abstract of a 17-patient study that showed OsteoBoost reduced bone loss equal to bisphosphonates and weight-bearing exercise.

MedTech Innovator recently selected Bone Health to participate in a four-month technology accelerator program for early-stage medical technology companies. If the OsteoBoost technology receives FDA clearance, it will be interesting to see if other companies develop wearables that use WBV to halt bone mass loss.