Imagine a cross between a FitBit and a TENS Unit (Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation) that can control, on demand, issues that hurt workers face: anxiety, pain, PTSD symptoms.
That combination might not be as far-off science fiction as a person would think.
Wearable medical devices are making remarkable advances, according to respected workers’ compensation commentator Robert Wilson.
“We are only scratching the surface of what may be possible,” he predicts. “Wearable devices that can dispense medication, provide biofeedback and can both monitor and adjust a patients vitals are very real possibilities. Devices such as these will improve quality of life with real time application and treatment, and that ‘improved experience’ will help our industry drive better results at an ultimately lower cost.”
A real-life example of these advancements is an app called myBivy, which was originally developed to help veterans with PTSD sleep better by disrupting the physical “symptoms that precede night terrors.” The app is being developed by a team that “Tyler Skluzacek, a student at Macalester College” in St. Paul, Minnesota, began when he was inspired to help his father, a veteran of the Iraq War. The app is in its testing phases now and is estimated to “officially launch between March and May” of this year. Since “7-8 percent of Americans will experience PTSD at some point in their lives” and “11-20 percent of post 9-11 veterans are estimated to have PTSD,” it’s pretty obvious how the app may help those who have developed PTSD through a work-related injury sleep better. I look forward to hearing more about this particular app for sure.
This app meets Wilson’s criteria of how wearables need to evolve to be the most helpful to those who can benefit the most from them.
“To be really effective and successful, the wearable revolution needs at least one more evolution,” Wilson wrote. “An evolution that takes this medium from that of casual observer to mobile clinician; from simple data collector to partner in health. That is when we will see real benefits and results from wearable technology in all health delivery systems.”
I am hopeful that the relentless cost-containment efforts of the “Workers’ Comp Industrial Complex’ will not inhibit these creative efforts, so injured workers and their loved ones will be able to benefit from these advances very soon.