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609865-medical-tech

LAS VEGAS — As we're all too painfully aware, wellness care costs have connected to rise precipitously in the US. While technology continues to make huge advances in healthcare in full general, with few exceptions information technology has non contributed much to a reduction in cost in the delivery of health services. The reasons are complicated and deeply ingrained in the construction of the industry, but in that location'due south some hope. Advances in inexpensive and powerful chip technology, cloud software platforms, and artificial intelligence are enabling creative new approaches to devices that empower people to improve understand and monitor their health.

The innovation is coming not just from startups. Companies like Omron that have been making wellness monitoring devices for years are also leveraging the latest engineering to bring increased intelligence and ease of use to their latest offerings. In much the same way that wearables like Fitbit and the Apple Lookout accept made it easier for people to monitor activity, sleep, and other health-related information, new devices are enabling users to be better informed nearly their vital signs and conditions, reducing visits to doctors and clinics unless it'south necessary. Applying technology that once was only available in expensive machines in a healthcare facility to consumer devices is as well allowing users to manage pain and chronic conditions with less reliance on medications.

Here are a few of the innovative devices, products, and services we saw at CES that could help people take charge of their health, make amend decisions, and potentially pb to better outcomes.

Managing Sinus Pain

Sinus pain from allergic rhinitis (hay fever) affects some 40-60 meg people in the US. Depending on where one lives, allergy attacks tin be seasonal, and in more than extreme cases, some people are forced to limit their fourth dimension outdoors. In some cases, the problems are year-circular, based on allergies to pet dander, smoke, and sure fragrances. Over-the-counter and prescription drugs for allergy treatment are big business.

Startup Tivic Health has come up upwardly with a unique, non-invasive, and drug-free approach to relieve sinus pain. Their new ClearUp handheld, portable, and rechargeable device uses microcurrent waveforms to stimulate fretfulness alongside the nasal passages, alleviating stuffiness and the sinus pain from allergies. The device is designed to glide along the cheek, nose, and brow os, delivering a prophylactic, low current in a v-minute treatment. The ClearUp analyzes a person's skin backdrop and uses calorie-free and vibration to guide the user to the facial points to apply the treatment. In the trial that Tivic conducted for the FDA approval, 74 percent of users achieved relief from their sinus pain. Tivic is planning to brand the ClearUp available over the counter in mid-2019.

Relieving Chronic Pain

Managing pain from joints, backs, necks, and other areas is some other problematic wellness care area. Drugs will mask hurting past relieving the symptom, but not attacking the trouble at the root. And while common drugs that reduce inflammation, both prescription and over-the-counter, may be effective in eventually immigration up inflammation, longer-term, chronic employ of pain medications can be hard on the stomach and cause a variety of other problems.

Oska Wellness is another company using an electronic device for pain relief. Using Pulsed Electromagnetic Field (PEMF) technology that has been proven for 60 years in professional medical devices, the Oska Pulse targets distressed cells that generate the inflammation that causes pain. It targets iv tissue types and delivers a unique serial of pulses at precise frequencies that stimulate cell repair. As the cells repair themselves, circulation is improved and inflammation is reduced, resulting in lasting pain relief. In a randomized, double-bullheaded study conducted at the Scripps Pain Constitute in San Diego, a majority of patients reported a reduction in pain using the Pulse.

The opioid epidemic in the US has commanded national attention as a health crisis. While devices like the Oska Pulse volition non solve that problem, it leads a path to drug-free, non-invasive, and non-addictive approaches to managing and curing pain.

Managing Hypertension

Centre illness is one of the biggest wellness problems in America. The reasons are manifold, caused by poor diet, lack of exercise, unhealthy lifestyle, merely also heredity. Hypertension, or loftier claret pressure level, is a major factor in coronary avenue disease, centre failure, atrial fibrillation, stroke, and other serious problems. Managing high blood pressure is disquisitional, and is primarily done with drug handling. Notwithstanding, equally in so many things in wellness, increased knowledge is increased power. Blood pressure can be highly afflicted by activity and stress. Knowing when blood pressure spikes to unhealthy levels can assist in managing the condition and improving heart health.

Omron has been making both professional person and consumer devices for blood pressure level measurement for many years. With the new HeartGuide, they have combined a clinically accurate claret pressure monitor into a smartwatch that tin can be worn all the time. Combined with the accompanying HeartAdvisor app, information technology makes continual blood pressure monitoring easy and helps analyze what types of activity and times of twenty-four hours spike blood pressure. Every bit Omron notes, simply taking claret pressure in a physician's office at a checkup or one time a day is non plenty data to know what causes it. Often a stressful chore or other situations make blood pressure go up beyond normal levels, while information technology may read perfectly normal at other times.

The HeartGuide besides tracks steps, distance, and calories burned and tin can monitor sleep patterns as well. With continuous blood force per unit area monitoring, information technology tin draw heretofore unavailable correlations between activity, time of day, and blood force per unit area. While it can't directly care for hypertension, more information equates to more intelligence to enable users and medical professionals to manage a balanced treatment plan to avoid the risks from high blood force per unit area.

Intelligent Virtual Intendance

In the Us, dwelling health care is an expensive proposition. Every bit people age and feel a reduction in mobility and other ailments, having someone to look afterwards them becomes important. In past generations, families lived close to each other and elderly parents might live with children who helped to care for them. Today'south lifestyles accept families scattered all over the state, and older people often move from longtime homes to more attractive retirement locales, making that model no longer feasible. The trouble of caring for those who are aging remains, and often there's a large center ground between needing intendance and beingness ready for assisted living or a nursing habitation.

The cost of dwelling house health care is expensive. It's almost prohibitive for virtually people to take a wellness professional visit a home every day, and even once a week is out of reach for many. Insurance coverage for dwelling wellness intendance is express except for the most farthermost situations. Many in the elderly population prefer to stay in their ain homes only may require moderate help. One area is in taking medication consistently, which is a huge issue in treating many chronic atmospheric condition. Taking the correct dose, at the right time of day — and not forgetting — is a disquisitional trouble. For people that live past themselves, deterioration in move and gait may be an unnoticed problem that could lead to a autumn. The consequences of falling are serious, often leading to hospitalization, surgeries like hip replacement, and weeks of rehabilitation. A homo that's helping to take care of someone would note those changes over time, but someone looking in only occasionally doesn't have the context whether the person's motion and gait are normal or have changed rapidly.

Addison.care is a company applying modern advice technology, artificial intelligence, health vitals monitoring, and voice and visual assistant techniques to provide a virtual-care solution to these problems. Addison Intendance is well-nigh like Amazon's Alexa with a slew of added skills in nursing and home wellness care. Peradventure fittingly, it's powered by Amazon's AWS deject platform. Addison Intendance is a virtual assistant that can monitor vitals similar claret pressure and glucose levels, omnibus and observe people for medication management, offering back up for the treatment of chronic weather, and much more. The hardware will consist of a tabletop platform similar to Google Domicile or Amazon'south Echo show. It will have a camera that tin observe and monitor normal motility, the taking of medications, and exercises or rehab activities that need to exist done. Attached peripherals can monitor and rails vital data like eye rate, claret force per unit area, and glucose monitoring if those are needed. It's an ambitious take on using engineering to provide needed care services in a more than affordable and scalable manner.

Tin can engineering help fix our expensive healthcare system? It tin can't cure all the structural problems, but innovative new solutions similar these tin can lead to new paths to spend our healthcare dollars more intelligently.

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