Posts Tagged ‘Tele-Health’

Wearable Wireless Sensing Enables Recovery at Home, Improves Care and Convenience

Boston, MA, February, 2012: Telefónica, the third largest telecommunications provider in the world, and the leading provider in Spain and Latin America, has launched its much anticipated ‘Rehabitic’ product, using wearable wireless sensing technology from Shimmer Research.

For patients who have had a total knee replacement and need extensive physiotherapy – Rehabitic enables the rehabilitation regime to be carried out in the comfort of home while maintaining the oversight of clinicians who monitor session from the hospital.

The patient attaches Shimmer devices to both sides of the affected knee in front of a touch screen PC, on which application software visually instructs them through their prescribed therapy session. An avatar onscreen displays the patient’s movement in real-time, with dynamic feedback and reflection of performance. All information is sent to the clinician for either real time or offline assessment.

Tested in Grenada, Spain and Chile, results have been highly effective in this promising market for tele rehabilitation.

Watch the BBC News Feature on Rehabitic:

• Visit the BBC News Feature [link]
• Visit the Rehabitic Product Page [link]
• Download the Information Sheet [link]
• Meet with us at MWC 2012 [link]

About Shimmer Research

With research and development offices in Boston, MA and headquarters in Dublin, Ireland, Shimmer Research has been a leader in wearable wireless sensing since its founding in 2008. The company designs, develops and manufactures a full range of wearable Kinematic, BioPhysical, and Ambient sensing modules and solutions, currently used in over 50 countries for a wide variety of applications.  The company’s core product, the Shimmer, is a wireless sensor platform that allows for the capture and communication of a sensed data in real‐time, featuring low-power, standards based, wireless communication technologies and a large storage capacity which facilitates wearable wireless sensing in both connected and offline modes.   Shimmer has leading expertise in application development, technical support, and systems integration. Its platform can be integrated into existing product, service, research, and development programs for customers across a wide array of industries.  To arrange a meeting or demo, please contact Tom McMahon:  tmcmahon@shimmer-research.com or 1-857-362-7254 (US East Coast).

The TRIL Centre (Technology Research for Independent Living) is currently conducting a programme call Stepping Stones using Shimmer (a wearable wireless sensors system) and BioMOBIUS (an open shareable software platform).

Stepping Stones is a short term high intensity programme of physical exercise to improve fitness levels in healthy middle-aged people (55-65 years). A complete home / work technology platform has been developed for the project. This facilitates effective monitoring and biofeedback during exercise whilst enhancing end-user motivation and involvement in the process.

Shimmer was chosen over existing commercial products such as the Wii Fit due to its ability to provide greater contextual information. With real-time digital signal processing Shimmer provides comprehensive instantaneous feedback on movement, and biophysical parameters as opposed to intermittent data provided by the Wii Fit (data only provided when the participant is on the step).

Shimmer takes Kinematic data (Accel + Gyro) via two ankle worn units, and Biophysical data via a Shimmer ECG connected to a Polar chest strap. This benefits participants by providing:

• Real-time feedback on steps take and progression through the exercise session
• Feedback on performance and accuracy of the prescribed exercise
• Feedback on heart rate and intensity of exercise / effort
• Motivation to improve performance and reach target performance and intensity zones.

The data captured during each exercise session is then sent back to remote servers to be viewed by clinicians. This allows clinicians to monitor the participant’s adherence and progress through the programme, if the person is performing the exercises correctly, and if the participant is reaching the right intensity / target zones during exercise. The historical data is also being analysed to identify if the programme needs to be altered to match an individual’s capabilities, and to establish changes to biomarkers and a participant’s health and well being over time.

See the video via our YouTube Channel.

Read about the Stepping Stones programme on the TRIL website.

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TEDMED has released the presentation given by Paul Jacobs, CEO of Qualcomm at the conference last October. Jacobs shares his vision for the future of Wireless Healthcare where people will always feel in touch with their doctor, and their health can be monitored at all times for when something goes wrong. This he notes will be realised by wearable wireless sensors, to improve individuals’ healthcare from aiding acute and chronic conditions, to a person’s general health and wellbeing. Jacobs demonstrates a Shimmer on the 7:25 mark, which monitors the activity of a person whilst the data is being remotely interpreted in real time.

The program interpreting and displaying the data captured can be viewed on an interview conducted with Paul Jacobs at TEDMED. The program is displayed on the 1:50 mark – view video.

In a recent testimony to a US Senate Special Sub-Committee on Aging, Eric Dishman reflected on the persistent barriers that prevent the widespread implementation of telehealth, aging-in-place, and what Continua calls “e-care” (for “electronic care”) technologies.

He opened his testimony by introducing two new technologies which he feels are key to the implementation of e-care systems. One of the two technologies he chose to introduce to the Senate Committee was Shimmer.

Utilising Shimmer to monitor the daily movements of seniors and predict when a fall may be likely to occur, Dishman believes that the technology can help reduce falls by as much as 70% or more. Currently one in every three people over the age of 65 fall each year, at an estimated cost of $44 billion to the US economy yearly by the end of this decade.

Read his full testimony by following this link.

A video of the testimony is also available on the above link, with Eric Dishman introduced to the committee at the 75.40 mark. He introduces Shimmer to the committee at the 76.45 mark.

Shimmer Research is to attend Arab Health 2010 which taking place from the 25^th – 28^th of January at the Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre. Kieran Daly, VP of Business Development will be representing Shimmer Research, and can be contacted at AmRay Medical’s stand (Hall 2: Stand 2J70).

The Arab Health Exhibition & Congress is the largest healthcare exhibition in the Middle East, and the second largest in the world. Established 35 years ago, it provides a platform for the world’s leading manufacturers, wholesalers and distributors to meet the medical and scientific community in the Middle East and beyond.

Kieran Daly will be displaying the Shimmer unit in operation throughout the event and will be demonstrating the latest ECG application which remotely monitors and displays heart beat rate and QRS waveforms. The application also indicates a normal heart rate, and detects arrhythmias for real time patient monitoring.

To arrange a meeting with Kieran Daly – email us at: info ‘at’ shimmer-research.com.

In a recent article in the Life Science Review, Dr Declan Bogan looks at Connected Health, and the current businesses, projects, and research involved in the industry across the island of Ireland.

He notes the current difficulties facing the industry such as acceptance of the technologies involved by the end user, clinicians, and GP’s, along with the interoperability between various products. But goes onto note the vast growth that is predicted in the area with the Tele-health industry expected to grow to $8bn by 2012, from revenues of $591m in 2005.

Commenting on the contribution of businesses to research in the area, Dr. Bogan identifies Shimmer as a sensor platform that enables researchers to capture a wide range sensed data. He noted how the highly reconfigurable platform allows researchers to save time and money by moving beyond developing core foundation technologies and focus on the valuable data obtained by the wireless sensor platform.

Read Dr. Bogan’s full article on Connected Health in the Life Science Review.

TEDMED 2009 was held recently, from the 27^th – 30^th of October in San Diego, California. TEDMED celebrates conversations that demonstrate the intersection and connections between all things medical and healthcare related: from personal health to public health, devices to design and Hollywood to the hospital.

Speaking at the conference Ambassador Eric Goosby, the U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator for the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, urged attendees not to pursue wireless health services because they are a “shiny new technology” or because they are “innovative, creative and flashy,” but rather because, if they do improve health outcomes for patients, then they should be core tools for medical workers and global health programs.

Also speaking at the conference was Eric Dishman from Intel’s Digital Health Group, who noted the importance of “Behavioural Makers” and made particular reference to the Shimmer platform. Describing Shimmer as a small unit that fits into a pocket and monitors such attributes as hand tremor, gait and stride length. This he noted helps the understanding of how a change in a person’s daily patterns, or characteristic markers, of behaviour could be used for diagnostic purposes.

Paul Jacob’s, CEO of Qualcomm noted that ‘timing couldn’t better for introducing patients to new digital health tools’. Jacob’s demonstrating a number of wireless health monitoring devices and sensors during his presentation, however many saw the highlight to be a Cookie Monster toy that moved around the stage, fell down, and stood back up again. The toy was wearing a Shimmer which allowed for the remote monitoring of the toys activity, and also sent a prompt alert when a fall had been detected.

To read the full on article Eric Dishman’s speech at TEDMED 2009 published in the Scientific American please click here, or to read a brief overview of all the speakers mentioned, please click here.