With AI and machine learning shaking things up like never before, we are seeing incredible new methods to manage daily activities. Consider healthcare, for example. Remember when every tiny sneeze meant a trip to the doctor? You can now receive a diagnosis and prescription by video call from the comfort of your own home. How convenient is that?

The advancements do not end there. Wearable devices, such as fitness bands and smartwatches, are also revolutionizing health tracking. In fact, one out of every three Americans utilizes these devices to monitor their health and fitness. These devices deliver real-time, accurate health data, serving as a personal doctor on your wrist.

The healthcare sector is fast evolving as AI and robotics are integrated, making health monitoring easier and more precise while minimizing disruption to normal life. It truly feels like we’re living in the future!

This article examines the current state of the wearables market, as well as future potential and problems.

How are Wearables Presently Doing?

In the current landscape, there are many wearable options. The most general wearables we are aware of include:

• Fitness trackers
• Smartwatches
• VR (Virtual Reality) headsets
• Smart jewelry
• Smart glasses
• Bluetooth headsets

These serve different purposes, which include health, sports, or entertainment. However, since we are categorically talking about the healthcare sector here, let’s see the wearables being used in the healthcare industry today:

• Wearable fitness trackers: These are majorly wristbands with sensors to monitor the heart rhythm and track physical activity. These cannot do in-depth medical analysis but are good for keeping track of daily exertion.
• Smartwatches: Smartwatches monitor body movement and pulse while providing the basic functions of a watch and some extra smart functions such as music and calls. However, they do not offer any biomarker data.
• Fitness trackers: These devices are specifically made to monitor your heart rate and calculate the quantum of calories burnt during exertion. These provide a slightly deeper understanding of your internal health.
• Smart clothing: These are another type of fitness wearables but with a small twist. Instead of being on the wrist or just a part of your arm, they cover the majority of your body. They also monitor how your body responds to any physical stress.
• Wearable ECG monitors: As the name suggests, these devices are specifically made just to monitor ECG (electrocardiograms). Since they are wearable, the patient does not have to stay in the confines of the hospital for ECG monitoring.
• Biosensors: Biosensors are self-adhesive patches that can help monitor your heart rate, respiratory data, and body temperature. The patch has a thin needle that enters the body to gather accurate data and remains till you don’t pull the patch out.

Now that we know what devices are being used, what types of data are being used, and how they are managed in the healthcare industry, we must comprehend their implications. Long story short, using these wearables benefits both patients and medical practitioners.

While the patient is not required to take time off from work or cease their everyday chores, doctors can obtain more precise data based on information acquired during normal daily life processes. This improves the treatment’s effectiveness through tailored healthcare monitoring while reducing judgment errors.

Future Prospects for Wearables

With more healthcare wearables entering the market each year and existing technologies evolving to deliver better treatment to patients, the future healthcare industry will be more individualized than ever before. The following developments in wearables are likely to occur in the near future in various domains:

• Remote Patient Monitoring: While remote patient monitoring is still possible, certain advancements can be experienced in the near future. This includes helping individuals and doctors detect chronic diseases, such as diabetes, hypertension, or heart problems.
• Advanced Fitness Tracking: Wearables might start tracking specific muscle activity or body hydration levels with advancements in technology. That’s not it. For sportspeople, these gadgets thoroughly analyze the patterns and guide them to correct their gestures and postures.
• Predictive Capabilities: Wearable devices can analyze data to predict the likelihood and risks of various ailments. For instance, they can provide early warnings for heart attacks and track the effectiveness of fasting on your health
• Innovations: Wearables will enable real-time consultations with doctors and present wearable data through engaging charts and visualizations. Take, for example, Apple’s Vision Pro. It offers a spatial and three-dimensional experience, which holds immense potential in the healthcare sector. This technology takes virtual doctor-patient interactions to a whole new level, enhancing their relationship in a transformative way.
• Fashionable Wearables: These are slowly picking up pace in the recent wearables industry. This includes smart rings, bracelets, and even smart eyewear. However, the technology is still in its growing phase.

This customization will result in more individualized treatment for each patient, ensuring the best possible care. Furthermore, diseases will be detectable accurately and early. This will provide people a chance to overcome the sickness.

Wearable technologies are expected to save over 16% of hospital expenditures by 2027, and by 2037, they might help save $200 billion through remote patient monitoring devices.

Examples of Wearable Technology in Healthcare

Wearable technology in healthcare aspires to disrupt the sector by providing patients with detailed data that leads to actionable insights. Wearables allow patients to collect their own health data and report it digitally, removing the need for in-person appointments. Insurers and providers have also invested in wearable technology, using data obtained from health monitoring devices to create more personalized and precise health plans. Companies have also utilized wearables to encourage healthy practices among office workers and remote personnel.

Because of these advantages, wearable medical gadgets such as fitness trackers, smart watches, electrocardiogram (ECG) monitors, blood pressure monitors, and biosensors are in high demand. The smart wearable health device market was valued at $13.8 billion in 2020 and is predicted to grow to $37.4 billion by 2028.

Read Also: The Rise of Smart Cities

Here are some firms that are driving growth by transforming the patient experience in healthcare with wearable technology.

1. Silvertree

Location: Cambridge, Massachusetts

Silvertree, a healthtech firm, produces a wearable called the Silvertree Reach, which is designed to monitor the health and safety of older active adults. The Reach wristband is designed to promote elderly people’s independence and comes with a subscription connectivity service that allows the wearer to transmit emergency notifications. The device also has GPS tracking in case of an emergency and detects falls. The Reach app tracks steps, stores medical records and digital ID, and enables communication with loved ones.

2. Garmin

Location: Olathe, Kansas

Garmin manufactures a variety of gadgets, including fitness and health tracking wearables for adults and children. Garmin also offers an all-day activity tracker that counts steps, distance, intensity, and calories to assist customers in meeting their health and fitness objectives. The Venu range of wearables tracks body patterns, sleep quality, and heart rate while pairing with Apple and Android smartphones for increased convenience.

3. Withings

Location: Cambridge, Massachusetts

Withings, based in France, is a health and wellness firm whose products help individuals stay connected to their health. Since the introduction of the first WiFi scale, the firm has created linked wellness gadgets such as health-enabled watches. Withings wearable trackers provide activity tracking, ECGs, heart rate, and sleep monitoring.

4. Motiv

Location: San Francisco, California 

Fitness and health wearables commonly come in the form of watches, but Motiv does things a little differently. The Motiv Ring slips onto a user’s finger to monitor activity, sleep and heart rate. The ring’s app lets users track and adjust their goals while saving data to Google Fit or Apple Health.

5. Jabra Hearing

Location: New York, New York

Jabra Hearing is a hearing care telemedicine company that provides high-tech, direct-to-consumer hearing aids, remotely programmed for each client. Potential clients are screened for eligibility, then given a video orientation with Jabra audiologists, who cover how to wear, care for and adjust their hearing aids, which are then delivered to the client’s door. 

6. Apple

Location: Cupertino, California 

In addition to many other use cases, Apple’s Apple Watch has a variety of health tracking features, such as heart rate notifications about irregular rhythms and heart rates that are too high or too low. The watch even has an ECG app and auto-enabled fall detection for users over 65. Between the Apple Watch and iPhone health features, users can monitor heart health and store important medical information that’s quickly accessible.

7. AliveCor

Location: Mountain View, California

KardiaMobile is a product made by AliveCor, a medical device and artificial intelligence company that is developing products for screening, diagnosis and treatment. KardiaMobile is an ECG that attaches to the back of mobile devices like iPhones and Androids. It tracks heart activity and transmits the activity to a mobile app through chest and finger sensors.

8. Ava Women

Location: San Francisco, California  

The Ava bracelet is a night-only wearable that helps women naturally track their cycles to understand more about their fertility, pregnancy and overall health. In addition to simple symptom, ovulation and period tracking, the wearable tracks and logs sleep, stress levels and resting heart rate, all within the Ava app.

9. Fitbit

Location: San Francisco, California 

Fitbit does more than track steps, it also provides an entire health coaching platform that offers solutions for corporate wellness, healthcare systems and researchers. Fitibit’s smart watches work well with Apple and Android products, offering mobile services in the form of the Fitbit app. Users can also take advantage of the app’s ability to track menstrual cycles, periods and fertility information.

10. PatientPoint

Location: Cinncinnati, Ohio

PatientPoint’s patient engagement product solutions include remote patient monitoring technology powered by Optimize Health, a remote care firm. According to PatientPoint, it collaborates with medical providers to determine which patients are qualified before handling logistics for distributing devices to patients and onboarding them. The company claims that their monitoring tools enable medical professionals to discover trends among a patient’s important parameters so that they can make necessary adjustments to their treatment plans, with applications for patients requiring preventative cardiac care, for example.

What is the Best Wearable Technology for Health?

With the introduction of new wearable health technology, an increasing number of patients can receive the treatment they require from the comfort of their homes. The most recent advancements enable greater patient monitoring and real-time data, among other benefits, resulting in better health outcomes for both patients and clinicians.

Below, we look at various wearable health technologies that they believe represent a significant step forward for remote healthcare. These advances, ranging from continuous glucose monitors to smartwatches with enhanced health indicators, are improving healthcare.

1. Continuous Vital Sign Collection

Continuous vital sign collection via wearable devices is a huge leap forward in remote care. Advanced sensors on these devices provide real-time data on patients’ health, ensuring timely intervention and personalized care. This constant monitoring minimizes gaps in observation, empowering clinicians to offer proactive support and patients to manage their well-being more effectively.

2. Microfluidic Patches

Microfluidic patches are a breakthrough innovation, providing real-time analysis of bodily biomarkers via a small adhesive patch. This innovation boosts remote care by providing personalized health insights and reducing invasive tests. It enhances diagnostic accuracy and medication management for providers, improving patient engagement, creating better care coordination and allowing for accessible health monitoring.

3. Wearable ECGs

Wearable electrocardiogram, or ECG, devices have transformed remote cardiac care. They come in different forms, be it smartwatches, patches or Holter monitors. These devices also pair with apps that store ECG data, allowing physicians to review the data remotely. This enables proactive health management and the early detection of stroke risks. They also promote self-awareness, leading to healthier lifestyles.

4. Continuous Glucose Monitoring

Continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) offers real-time insights into blood sugar levels, crucial for diabetes management. CGM empowers patients to monitor their health proactively, leading to better self-management and reducing the need for frequent clinic visits.

5. Continuous AI Signal Processing

The number of wearable devices per capita and their accumulated computing capabilities keep growing. This opens new horizons in continuous monitoring, especially for people with medical conditions or in dangerous environments. The most significant leap is expected in heart activity monitoring and continuous AI signal processing, precisely ECG.

6. AI Patient Monitoring

AI is driving incredible progress in wearable health technology, specifically patient monitoring. These devices collect vast amounts of biometric data but often lack the resources to manually monitor patients and take timely action. AI is expediting the process by processing device data at rapid speed, resulting in prescriptive, preventive care as well as reduced costs and burdens on healthcare workforces.

Finally

The healthcare sector is growing rapidly, with technological improvements serving as the primary impetus. While the future of the healthcare sector appears to be bright, significant challenges need to be overcome in order to deliver the finest medical care to patients and provide the highest possible odds of successful treatment. One solution could be to develop medical-specific applications for treatment. What can help even more is the effective integration of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning into these applications, allowing the medical sector to shift smoothly to new technology standards.