Wearable technology and athlete performance

Overview

Modern innovative technologies aid men in leading life more easily and efficiently. One such innovation is wearable technology which can measure the functioning of human organs and the entire body in no time. This blog focuses on wearable technology, its benefits and errors with particular focus on its effects on sports people.

What is wearable technology?

Wearable technology refers to devices that can be attached to the body and measure various aspects of performance while performing physical activities like running, swimming, walking, and others. Many devices on the market, such as Fitbit, Polar, Apple watch and Garmin, serve this purpose.

How are they useful for sports persons?

Sportspeople and coaches always embrace innovation that may help improve their performance. Wearable technological devices are small, comparatively less expensive, and can attach to any part of the human body, making them widely accepted. The devices use electro-mechanical systems to estimate heart rate, acceleration, speed, and force while performing physical activity. These sensors can measure stride rate, stroke rate, force analysis, and ground contact time and are helpful for people practicing running, swimming, skating and jumping.

Benefits of wearable devices on athletes

With the Covid-19 pandemic, athletes could not use public grounds and various training technologies to help them. Wearable technology was significant during this time.

The ability of these devices to provide continuous data is the most crucial benefit. There are shoes, bike pedals and ski boots with force-sensing resistors that enable continuous tracking. Sportspeople can measure their number of jumps per training session over a week or months. This helps them track their improvement without using conventional and time-consuming methods. Some devices also help to prevent injuries. For instance, an accelerometer can measure swimmers’ number of strokes and body roll, which may help them determine whether they are prone to shoulder injury.

Errors associated with wearable technology

Although wearable technology has several benefits, it may also make some errors.

• The data may not always be accurate since the algorithms used to measure it may go wrong. The data must be precise and reliable since it is associated with modifying techniques in training.
• The trainers of trainees should be aware of placing the data in context. They should know how to compare the data to learn the variation over a period of time. Without this, the data remains meaningless.
• The wearable devices produce massive data when multiple sessions and trainees are involved. These data must be rightly studied and contextualized to help the trainees build strategies to improve performance.

Conclusion

Like any other field, the sports world is also looking forward to more AI innovations to help them easily strive through the struggle. Though wearable technology is bound to create errors, it is a considerable help for sportspeople. With future developments, let us hope that wearable technology will open new arenas to help sports people optimize techniques to improve performance.

References

https://theconversation.com/wearable-tech-at-the-olympics-how-athletes-are-using-it-to-train-to-win-163860#:~:text=Consequently%2C%20wearable%20tech%20has%20the,in%20speed%20skating%20and%20jumping