Assistive tech and fitness: We're not quite there yet

By Jerry Hildenbrand
last updated

There's a major niche for fitness products that is mostly untapped — for now

MobileFit

As you will see during Fitness Month here on Mobile Nations, there is a wide array of cool and connected gadgets to help you get fit or stay fit. Bracelets, bands and clips that communicate with smartphones to tell you how far you've walked, how fast you did it, and how healthy it makes you come from plenty of manufacturers. They even get social and make for great games and contests. It's really cool to see how far this area has come in such a short time, and it's pretty great to see how well it's been accepted by tech enthusiasts and those who aren't quite as enthused about circuits as we might be.

But there is one group of people who have (so far) been left mostly out in the cold when it comes to being healthy connected-style — folks who have disabilities.

It's really cool to see how far this area has come in such a short time

This is something I know a little bit about. I'm wheelchair-bound most of the time. Luckily, I can walk a little, and the right concoction of pills and shots combined with my natural stubbornness can allow me to amble slowly for extended periods if I have to (thankfully), but for the most part when I'm not in my chair at my desk working, I'm in another chair rolling. I'm not bitter and I'm not complaining — I've had a long life filled with bad choices that put me here. But it does give me a bit of first-hand knowledge when it comes to how any of the cool connected fitness devices work for folks who can't do the running, walking and jogging. I also save a ton of money on shoes.

The good news is that this sector of fitness is ripe for the picking, and as technology advances we'll see more assistive tech trickle down to the consumer level — including fitness accessories.

That's not to say some of what's out there isn't really useful. After my last run-in with the surgeon's knife I needed to monitor my sleeping habits and fluid intake. My Doctor suggested a FitBit One, which did a fair job with the sleep tracking and an excellent job giving me somewhere to keep track of how much water I was drinking. It was no help keeping track of how much water was coming out, but with a little bit of coding this nasty job could be built right into their software for the few people that need it.

Heart-rate sensors are another area where folks with less-than-perfect mobility can benefit, just like their more active counterparts. Wheeling yourself around is a workout in itself, and it's nice to know how that work is affecting your ticker. Many folks who need a wheelchair turn into the hulk from the waist up from all the arm-work, while others need to keep things slow and be gentle with their heart. While I was learning to adjust to my new lifestyle, only your cardiologist has sensors of this type. Today, many different companies offer ways to keep track of your heart. We've come a long way here.

Many folks who need a wheelchair turn into the hulk from the waist up from all the arm-work, while others need to keep things slow and be gentle with their heart

On the commercial side, in rehab centers or gyms, there are mounts and clamps to lock a wheelchair into just about any upper-body workout machine or rack. I'd like to see something similar built for home use, complete with rep-counters and Bluetooth to connect to a smartphone app. Or how about an odometer on your wheel, and a bit of logic to translate that into calories burned? There are plenty of places companies — both big and small — can go to tap into this market, and I think they will.

It's not just people with ambulatory issues who would benefit from tech in their workout, either. A fitness band and app that vocalized your stats on-demand would be awesome for people with visual impairment, or an app for Google Glass could be great for those without use of their arms. All this tech we have access to can get together on some level, and the results could be magical.

There are already companies looking at how they can help people with special needs. According to the Washington Post, Georgia Tech and Google are working on using Google Glass to help teach and interpret sign language. Other companies are looking at crowd-sourced data to help people with visual impairments pick out clothes that match. These little things are taken for granted by most of us — just like knowing that your Fuelband will know how many steps you took on your evening walk. These types of ideas and programs will trickle down into the fitness industry eventually.

This year, Fitness Month is still mostly for folks with no special needs. Here's hoping next year can be better!

This article originally published on Connectedly as part of #MobileFit month

Jerry Hildenbrand
Jerry Hildenbrand

I'm an RHCE and Electrical Engineer who loves gadgets of all kinds. You'll find my writings across Mobile Nations and you can hit me on Twitter if you want to say hey.

18 Comments
  • I don't really believe in using too much tech in fitness. People tend to go overboard with it. It's too much work to get the tech to actually figure it all out.
  • +720
  • I agree, but don't begrudge anyone who feels the need to gear up after they suit up. To each his own.
  • Yeah. Even when they look funny :)
  • Have you ever seen a Borg running down the street?
  • Wooo hoooo, Jerry is cross posting here too. Maybe he can help with the WP podcasts... to make them more frequent than annual.
  • That sign. So.... U need to put a disabled permit on the floor and park your car next to it? | Tech in this way still needs to improve allot. Don't think big things like google glass can help allot yet right now. Maybe the Kinect team can come up with something. I see people in wheel chairs that already enjoy Kinect Nike a.o workouts at the gym. But not at its fullest.
  • Google Glass, like all things Google, will eventually rob you of your soul.
  • I thought that was my wife.
  • I have a colleague who is legally blind and he was very interested in what a device like Google Glass could do for him. Unfortunately - I don't think Google Glass (or similar products) are really there yet to help those who are differently abled. I also have a friend who uses a wheel chair exclusively. She anticipates what tech can do for her.
  • Good article.  Really got me thinking about people with disablilties and technology.  There are more untapped areas that technology can help people than fitness, but health is huge and has no age boundary. 
  • Text to Speech Pro is designed for people who use WP8 as a device to help them speak.  My father in law lost the ability to speak and can only communicate via hand writing or the text to speech pro app.  He will type something into the phone and hit speak (it will play via the phone's speaker phone or he hooks it up to a bluetooth speaker when using it at the dinner table). It features adjustable rate of speech, male or female voice, display instead of speak, repeat, preprogrammed phrases, customizable phrases, etc... App: http://www.windowsphone.com/en-us/store/app/text-to-speech-pro/1a9d317f-e55c-44c1-a643-e1dd4b4fafa9  
  • My father in law has Corticobasal Degeneration: http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/corticobasal_degeneration/corticobasal_degeneration.htm It really sucks, but the app changed his life.  He has Lumia 920 and might be getting a 1520 because it might be easier for him to type on.
  • This is definitely a direction technology needs to move in.
    Microsoft when releasing their wearables can start furnishing these devices for those challenged in functions normally exhibited easily by others.
    They have the resources and their new customer centric propaganda would relatively easily allow for this to happen.
  • Microsoft is the company to provide the software framework for this kind of stuff. Windows is made for the masses, from all backgrounds. It is not an OS suited for geeks or rich westerners. It's definitely a market that can use more support. My son is special needs and it's sad how unfriendly the world can be if you don't fit perfectly into the mould. Only problem is it is a much smaller market than the ' rest' of the world. So any products designed for special needs or enhanced accessibility is usually brutally expensive, or just non existent. Let's hope things change
  • There is another group of people who have been left out as well: Windows Phone users.
  • Hear hear. I can't believe there is still no fitness wearable device making official app for windows phone. Posted via the WPC App for Android!
  • All of the tech basically revolves around running or walking, neither of which is all that important for health or general mobility. Resistance training and conditioning training, anaroebic cardiovascular training, is far more important for mobility, strength, and overall health, yet there is little that the various wearable tech products can do to help that. And that's just fine.