Healthcare

CES 2014: 4 Unique and Useful Health Devices

HealthcareMarch 22, 2014

Every company at the Consumer Electronics Association (CES) 2014, an annual international conference held in Las Vegas, unveiled a different model of fitness tracker device. Here are some of the more innovative ideas that were showcased.

CHECKLIGHT™ by Reebok

The CHECKLIGHT™ is Reebok's solution to athlete concussion issues. Think of it like the maintenance light in your car: When you sustain numerous head or body impacts, CHECKLIGHT™ tells you when it's time to see a medical professional. It also lets you know the severity of impacts, so that if you take a heavy hit, you know immediately that you should see a doctor. CHECKLIGHT™ uses lights to tell you what your status is (green means CHECKLIGHT™ is on, yellow means moderate impact, and red means serious impact). As with many other medical conditions (and your car), early detection is key to quick recovery and the prevention of future problems. Remaining in the game can be detrimental and result in long lasting, severe injury. Unfortunately, human parts can't be replaced like car parts. We need to take care of them so we can get back in the game!

Mother™ by Sense

Sense's Mother is an odd, but very interesting and innovative take on the quantified "self" movement. It is a little egg-shaped device that comes with four sensors. Mother's uses are diverse and not just limited to health. Its sensors track things like temperature, location, and movement, and can be used to measure all sorts of things (i.e. how often you brush your teeth, how often you drink from your water bottle and how often you take your medications). One of the most useful things about Mother is its flexibility. Mother could serve as a solution to medication adherence. Information about how often a patient takes medications would be very useful to doctors so that they know when medications have been effective and when a patient needs to be reminded about her medications. Mother could even be used to monitor dental adherence!

Medipac™ by Medissimo

Medipac is another awesome take on patient medication adherence. It's like a traditional pill box, only smarter. It knows when you're supposed to take your medications and knows when you open the packaging to take it. If you forget to take it, it will send an alert via email, text, or even telephone. Medipac makes medication adherence foolproof and allows you to keep track of medications.

Tinke™ by Zensorium

Zensorium's Tinke is a tiny, sophisticated device that gives you health information like your heart rate, respiratory rate, blood oxygen saturation, and heart rate variability. While many devices can give you a heart rate, not too many can give you the other three pieces of information, and especially not by simply pressing your finger to a sensor. This tiny device is designed to go anywhere with you and fit anywhere that you need it to.

Besides overrated fitness trackers, there were a few gems in CES 2014. The medical landscape changes quickly when devices make it so easy and cheap to track medical information. Mobile Health was one of the fastest growing fields at CES 2014 (up 40% from last year). Let's see where next year takes us! Certainly, the medical field is ripe for some innovation!

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