ALEX+: form a habit of good posture in 21 days
We’re a health conscious society today and good posture is a part of it.
One in two Americans have a musculoskeletal condition, costing costing an estimated $170 billion in annual treatment. Expenditures in lost wages are estimated to average over $850 billion. Even for younger people, how you carry yourself when working, relaxing or playing can have big effects.
We have seen a fair few wearables launched in recent years to help train your body into sitting properly. Most of these determine posture via devices fixed on your wrist, lower back or clothing. ALEX is different because it sits lightly on the back of your neck. Last year the company raised funds through crowdfunding and nearly 1,500 backers supported them. Now they are turning to Kickstarter once again to launch a new and improved version of the product.
Essential reading: Wearables that monitor your posture
The average person spends 2 to 4 hours a day looking down at their smartphones. When you crane your neck, you’re putting 27 kilograms of effective weight on your spine. This can have serious long-term implications. It is estimated that 45% of office workers suffer from text neck.
ALEX+ is a wearable that aims to replace years of poor posture habits in 21 days. At 25 grams the device is smaller and lighter than its predecessor, and its made of more high end materials. You also have more customization options, both in the hardware and software, and a new app.
To use the wearable, simply put it on, adjust the fit, calibrate on your app and you are ready to go. ALEX+ can track the angle of your neck and the position of your head, relative to your body, and it does this 10 times per second. It can tell if you’re looking too far down or if you’re holding your head too far forward. When you adopt poor posture for more than a few minutes, the device vibrates gently, encouraging you to improve.
The accompanying app allows you to monitor your posture in real time. The app also provides graphs that track your progress. The feedback settings let you set the length of time before ALEX+ alerts you to poor posture, the angle at which it determines your posture to be poor, and the strength of the vibration. With Dr. ALEX, a guided exercise program, you can work on habit-forming exercises for better posture.
You can store up to 4 weeks of posture data on the device with all of your posture progress stored in the cloud. The device will keep going for 10 days (with 10 hours of use per day), on a single charge.
Price: $49 and up
Funding open:
$4,297 pledged of $30,000 goal
28 days to go
Estimated delivery: July 2017
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