Practically all of us, during our childhood (at least) have been told to “keep our back straight,” or “not to slouch,” mostly by our mother (and sometimes by teachers and other elders) on more than one occasion. All they wanted to do was make sure that we kept our posture perfect.
The term posture denotes your body's positioning when you are standing, sitting, and lying down. When you maintain a good posture, your bones stay aligned properly and your ligaments, muscles, and joints function the way they should. Furthermore, your vital organs stay in the correct position and therefore function at their best.
Posture is also one of the most neglected things when it comes to health. While most of us worry about how much we exercise and what we eat, we seldom worry about how we keep our posture. And that, more often than not, spells doom for our health.
Wrong posture has various adverse health effects. For instance, simply 15 mins of typing or reading while keeping a wrong posture will exhaust your upper back, shoulder and neck muscles greatly.
Believe it or not, one out of every two Americans suffers from some type of musculoskeletal condition, which in turn costs over $170 billion in yearly treatments. Counting in lost wages expenses, this figure climbs up to over $850 billion.
Fortunately, we as a society are growing more and more conscious towards this aspect of maintaining good health. No matter what your age, keeping good posture (or not keeping it) profoundly impacts your health. Luckily, in today's day and age, there are wearables that can actually do your mother's job (no, they won't scold you).
The following are some of the best wearables in the market that can actually help you maintain a good posture by making sure that your body remains positioned properly. And by doing so you will project a confident image of yourself. That's also a worthy goal.
Best Wearable Posture Tracking Devices To Fix Your Posture:
Zikto Walk
A one-of-a-kind device, Zikto Walk acts as a virtual coach which analyzes the way you naturally walk and thereafter sends a subtle vibration alarm to the wrist if and when it detects any imbalances in your walking. It also acts as a great guide and basic activity tracker.
While Zikto does look and even functions just like a normal fitness tracker, it includes several additional functions that make it unique. When we are walking, our arms make a symmetrical “swinging” motion in order to keep the body balanced and upright. Zikto analyzes this motion, and detects variations in it using a gyroscope and an accelerometer, which then measure the swing speed of walking.
It then gives a gentle vibration to your wrist to alert when your walking posture gets turning towards the worse. Zikto analyzes your body balance as well. You can wear Zikto on any side you prefer. For instance, when you put it on one arm regularly and the other occasionally, the device collects and analyzes data from both the arms.
Thereafter, it picks the body's core areas which need correction and recommends exercises to helps strengthen said muscle groups in order to avoid further injuries and/or complications.
That's not to say however, that the gadget is devoid of the basic features a fitness tracker has. Zikto can keep track of your consumed calories, number of steps, hours slept and distance traveled. It also helps you keep track of your own schedule by alerting you of all texts, calls, and notifications that you receive.
Upright Posture Trainer
A small and discrete, yet very comfortable device, the UpRight Posture Trainer can be easily attached to the lower part of your back using a hypoallergenic adhesive.
It uses a variety of sensors to analyze your posture, and alerts you with gentle vibrations in the event you begin to slouch, thereby helping you rectify your poor postural habits and prevent discomforting situations such as headaches and back pain.
Upright Posture Trainer comes with an app that includes various training programs that can help improve the strength of your spine and encourage good posture.
You can start by exercising for 15 minutes everyday, and increase the duration as the back muscles become stronger. The device includes a 30-day money-back guarantee along with a one-year warranty, both of which make the product ideal for skeptics and people who are suspicious of tech.
Lumo Lift
The Lumo Lift, in addition to having the standard wearable features such as tracking the distance travelled, calories burned, and steps taken, can also tracks things like upper body position, core position as well as other factors that are related to posture.
The Lumo Lift consists of two devices, namely a polycarbonate tracker and a magnetic plate. While the former keeps the internal components in place, the latter makes sure that the device remains attached to your clothes.
The Lumo Lift functions by analyzing the curvature at the spine's top, along with the position of the upper back, chest, and shoulders. It is equipped with biomechanics monitoring sensors which make use of angle displacement and alerts you via gentle vibrations when it detects your body slouching.
Prana
A one-of-a-kind wearable, Prana combines posture and breath tracking, thereby allowing you to get the best out of the time you spend in sitting.
Based on a unique combination of ancient Yoga traditions and modern medical science research, Prana focuses on the connection between good posture and good breathing, which in turn give several health benefits such as improved focus, reduced stress, and reduction in back pain. Prana comes in the form of a small disc which attaches to your waistband and tracks breathing movement of your chest and diaphragm along with your body's position.
Prana monitors your posture and breathing pattern when you sit, and analyzes them to give a detailed report on your “breathing score.” It also gives you tips to change your posture and breathing towards the better through simple games, basic movements, and behavioral patterns. All you need to do is select the way which suits you best, and Prana will be there to actively guide your breath and movements.
Like other standard wearables, Prana sends you push-reminders to when you maintain poor posture for a long period of time.
It also automatically changes its mode according to how you change your activity; for instance, it will automatically switch on to standing mode and function like a standard step tracker once you start working.
Alex
While most wearable devices are positioned on your clothing, arm or wrist, Alex is actually worn behind the neck. Sitting at this position, the device can analyze your neck angle and your head's position in relation to your body, and uses this data to determine any postural anomalies (like if you hold your head far too forward or if you look too far down, among other things).
If you maintain the wrong posture for over a couple of minutes, Alex will give you a gentle vibration alert to remind you that you have to improve your posture. Alex comes with a corresponding coaching app which can be used to analyze your posture in real-time.
It also tracks and shows your postural improvements in the form of graphs and charts that make it easier (and interesting) to see your progress. Furthermore, you can use the feedback settings to set the time before Alex gives you the poor posture alert, the angle which should be determined as poor posture, as well as the vibration strength.
Additionally, you can also store posture data of up to four weeks on the device and your overall progress in the cloud.
Sit Smart Cushion By Darma
A very unique kind of posture device, Sit Smart Cushion has been designed by the Palo Alto-based startup Darma. While it looks and feels like any ordinary seat cushion, it is in fact a smart device that is fully integrated to a corresponding app and provides users actionable data regarding their posture.
Featuring a fiber optic sensor-integrated memory foam pad, the sit smart cushion analyzes your posture and notifies you if it finds any changes in the same either through a phone notification or a vibration alert on the cushion itself. Additionally, it collects data about your vitals such as respiration, heart rate, and stress levels, among others, and suggests customized stretching and breathing exercises.
It also helps users lessen the pressure on the hips, tail bones and the coccyx (which tend to get stressed when one sits for long hours) and helps in treating numbness and pain in the lower back region.
The Sit Smart Cushion has a durable battery which lasts over two weeks before requiring a recharge. Moreover, the Fiber-Optic Sensors Technology, which is patented by the company, makes sure that the recorded data measurements are medical-level accurate.
Wearable Posture Tracking Devices Review Summary
Maintaining a good posture helps you conserve vital energy and avoid unnecessary stress and untimely fatigue.
It helps you breathe better, stay fresh and free of unnecessary stress, keeps your joints and muscles healthier, promotes a stronger spine and helps improve digestion and circulation.
