SMART Knee Sleeve: that recommends rest

November 4, 2016 Marko Maslakovic Crowdfunding, Football/Soccer, Sports tracker 2 min read

The goal of this Kickstarter project is to prevent knee injuries before they start. Whether you are recovering from a knee surgery or simply desire extra precaution, the product promises to read muscle activity and detect when too much force is applied on the knee while performing physical activity.

There is a three part approach to the system.

A knee sleeve that acquires muscle signals surrounding the knee joint which vibrates and lights up when it records muscle activity that corresponds to a heightened likelihood of injury.
A mobile app that uses inputs of the user’s physical attributes and muscle data from the knee sleeve to recommend rest time.
An online dashboard that archives any video data of the user and correlates it with the muscle data and alert triggers determined by the mobile application and knee sleeve.

The sleeves are designed to protect against non-contact injuries caused by lateral movements during any physical activity. The technology is based on research which indicates that knee ligaments are likely to fail when exposed to “high levels” of torsional and impulse forces. The definition of “high levels” varies by age, sex, surgical history and weight. The algorithms use these parameters to determine the amount of force a given knee can sustain.

It is important to note – the sleeves are not diagnostic. Instead they are preventative in nature similar to a traditional knee brace except that the sleeves anticipate potential injury instead of merely providing marginal support.

The outfit behind the product hopes to one day evolve the sleeves to add a “locking mechanism” that will mechanically add support to the knee in real time as it detects vulnerability.

They are certainly off to a good start. A few days in, the campaign has already raised nearly half of the intended $30,000 goal.