22 TALKBACK DESIGN AND TECHNOLOGY
New monitoring device to track posture of sedentary workers Image: yanalya/freepik
IMPERIAL College London is working on a new project that aims to develop a monitoring device to track daily posture and body activity of people suffering from back pain, mainly while working in front of a computer. In the UK, almost half of employed adults are working from home because of the recent pandemic. This means that a surge is expected in the number of people suffering from back pain due to long hours sitting at their desks and to incorrect posture. The current number is already staggering: 540 million people around the world suffer from lower back pain at any one time, making back pain the largest single-cause of disability world-wide.
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Claire is a smart lifestyle-based support to allow people to prevent and self-manage back pain, empowering and providing them with control over their own wellbeing. It achieves it with an AI-powered platform based on contactless monitoring of body activity and sitting posture and on real-time feedback. The proposed smart system will use contactless monitoring with radar technology to track posture and body activity, with no need to wear any devices, while respecting the user’s privacy. Moreover, a real-time feedback will notify the user through an app when slouching on the seat or when they need to stand up straight and move/take a break. Finally,
a personalised AI-powered assistant will interpret and learn over time from sitting and movement habits and tailor the advice accordingly. Dorian Haci, a researcher in medical technologies at Imperial College London said: “By combining novel sensing technologies with an intelligent platform, we believe we can provide people suffering from back pain with smart tools
helping them to prevent and self-manage their pain, nudging towards a healthier lifestyle.” The team would like to speak to TalkBack readers currently suffering from back pain or who have suffered in the past and understand what their daily activity looks like and what they currently use to prevent and manage their pain. Contact: d.haci14@imperial.ac.uk
Image: peoplecreations/freepik
Methods to evaluate technology NICE has launched a public consultation on proposals for changes to the methods it uses to develop guidance on medicines, medical devices and diagnostics. The potential changes are part of the largest review ever carried out into the
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methods and processes NICE uses to produce its guidance on health technologies. Meindert Boysen, deputy chief executive and director of the Centre for Health Technology Evaluation at NICE, said: “As we develop
