Running head: HEALTHCARE AND FITNESS WEARABLE TECHNOLOGY 1

Healthcare and Fitness Wearable Technology

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 Healthcare and Fitness Wearable Technology
The advancement in technology has paved way for
revolution of a number of industries, including healthcare
industry. A number of technologies are being implemented to
ensure wellness and general fitness. Devices, such as fashion
electronics, techtogs, wearable devices, and wearable
technology are being incorporated into clothing features and
accessories with the aid of advanced electronics technology.
These devices are designed to incorporate functional features
meant for wellness and aesthetic functions. This paper will
focus on healthcare and fitness wearable technology.

The wearable Technology

Wearable technology refers to products that ought to be worn on
the body of the user for a prolonged period to enhance the
experience of the user, following its effects on the user’s body.
The products contain advanced system of circuit and
interconnected wires to provide independent processing
capability on the device. This implies that wearable products
have two important characteristics and the first one is wearable.
The user must put them on for a long time for them to have an
effect on his or her body. At the same time, wearable devices
must be smart. This means that the devices must have an
advanced circuit and wire connectivity with an independent
processing ability (Terry, 2013).
 Wearable Technology in the Healthcare and Fitness
Industry
Wearable devices find applications in the medical and
wellness industry. In the wellness industry, these devices are
used for monitoring a number of activities, as well as emotions
in human beings. In the medical industry, they are used for
monitoring vital signs and at the same time augmenting senses.
However, the FDA must give an approval of each instrument
before it is used (Transparency Market Research, 2013).
Scope Of The Market
The Wearable technology has a number of instruments
that finds uses in various categories of the wellness and
medical industries. The medical and healthcare market has a
number of product categories. They include hearing aids,
defibrillators, blood pressure monitors, patches, smart glasses,
insulin pumps, and continuous glucose monitoring. In the
wellness industry, the devices include sleep sensors, activity
monitors, smart clothing, emotional measurements, foot pods
& pedometers, and heads-up display. The market further
involves fitness & heart rate monitors, audio earbuds, and
smart watches.
The Future of the Market
 Currently, the market has performance monitors, hearing
aids, and headsets among other gadgets that define it.
However, the market is growing at a high rate and new
products are expected into the market in the few coming years.
The Transparency Market Research (2013) postulates that new
products, such as non-invasive glucose monitoring equipments,
smart glasses, and smart watches will be launched into the
market soon. Currently, the upside market value for these is
20,000 million US dollars. The study further indicates that the
market value for this product will have tripled by 2018 to
60,000 US dollars. The diagram below indicates the projected
market trend for these products:

Figure 1: the projected market trend in Wearable Technology in the Healthcare and Fitness Industry (Transparency Market
Research, 2013, p. 7)
 Since 2010, the market for medical and wellness wearable
has been growing at the rate of 7% annually and is expected to
continue growing at the same rate (Transparency Market
Research, 2013).
Projected Volume of Units Produced and Shipped
The number of units produced is expected to increase
steadily and a projected trend in shown in the diagram below:

Figure 2: Projected Volume of Units Produced and Shipped (Transparency Market Research, 2013, p. 8)

From the diagram above, there is an indication that more than

200 million units will be soled every year by 2017.
Key Drivers of The Market Growth
The market for wearable is expected to grow because of a
number of key drivers, and they include increased prevalence
of chronic diseases, rising life expectancy, and high ration of
senior members in the society. The need to reduce hospital stay
and an increased portion of patients requiring long term care
will also be drivers to the growth (PRWeb, 2014).
A number of technologies will also act as drivers to the
growth of the market. First, the growth in the smart technology
that incorporates blue tooth and low energy operational
features is on the upward trend, and thus will push for
innovations in wearable. In addition, the multi sensor
technology, also called MEMS incorporating sensor fusion in
diverse materials will be the key driver to growth (Leavitt,
2014).
How Wearable Technology Will Impact Healthcare
Several innovative wearable technologies have come out
recently aiming at revolutionizing the industry of healthcare.
Wearable technology educates and empowers patients to rely on
the opinion of professional doctors, only for health and
treatment progress. Nowadays patients have the ability to
monitor the progress of their health on the go or from home.
They can also educate themselves and know how to make
decisions on matters affecting their bodies. For instance,
Ingestion event Markers (IEMs) are taken along with medication
and helps in gathering and transmitting information from within
a patient’s body. By putting the information correctly at their
finger tips then the patients adherence to treatment is improved
(Terry, 2013).
 Wearable technology helps patients and physicians to
diagnose and monitor disease. Some wearable technology
transmits data about disease markers and organ function to
physicians. This enables them to access in-depth data when
making a diagnosis or monitoring a chronic disease. Several new
technologies are of great benefit to diabetic patients because
they monitor the level of glucose in their blood, track the intake
of food and activity levels, deliver insulin, and transmit
information direct to their doctors. For example, Freescale KL02
chip is embedded in a diseased organ directly or swallowed
together with medication. Biometric readings are send by the
chip through Wi-Fi to the healthcare professional or the patient,
allowing them to diagnose and monitor diseases according to the
gathered information within the body of a patient (Terry, 2013).
Wearable technology also assists in medical procedures as
its possibilities appear to be infinite. Surgeons use Google Glass
to give medical students and other physicians the ideal point of
view during medical and surgical procedures. This is a type of
telemedicine that advances patient care by giving veteran
surgeons opportunities to avail valuable expertise distantly to
surgeons who are less experienced.
Patients are able to manage and control their pain through
wearable technology. A transportable pain relief gadget is being
developed in the technology industry to eliminate the daily pain
medication for about 1.5 billion suffers of chronic pain across
the world. A patch that uses Bluetooth connectivity is being
designed to connect to a Smartphone application so that
physicians and patients can manage and track pain. It is
designed to produce low-voltage electrical stimulation to reduce
pain in chronic sufferers.
Wearable technology makes personal fitness more fun. The
most current and popular types of wearable technology are
devices, such as Jawbone’s Up fitness band and the Misfit shine.
The gadgets help their users in tracking and monitoring sleep
patterns, calorie intake, fitness levels, and bodily functions.
They encourage users to be actively involved in the
improvement of their general health by providing challenges,
goals, and social interactions to ensure that the experience is
more fun.
References

Bibliography
Leavitt, L. (2014). Becoming Cyborgs: Wearable Tech Disrupts Healthcare. Retrieved April 14, 2014, from
Forbes: http://www.forbes.com/sites/ptc/2014/03/28/becoming-cyborgs-ear-based-wearable-tech-
disrupts-healthcare/

PRWeb. (2014). Global Wearable Technology Market Reaserch Report . Retrieved April 14, 2014, from
PRWeb: http://www.prweb.com/pdfdownload/11478994.pdf

Terry, K. (2013). Wearable Tech Muscles Into Consumer Fitness Market. Retrieved April 14, 2014, from
Informational Week: http://www.informationweek.com/healthcare/mobile-and-wireless/wearable-
tech-muscles-into-consumer-fitness-market/d/d-id/1113164

Transparency Market Research. (2013). Wearable Technology Market - Global Scenario, Trends, Industry
Analysis, Size, Share And Forecast 2012 - 2018. Retrieved April 14, 2014, from Transparency Market
Research: http://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/wearable-technology.html