Work-related musculoskeletal disorders are a major concern globally affecting societies, companies, and individuals. To address this, a new sensor-based system is presented: the Smart Workwear System, aimed at facilitating preventive measures by supporting risk assessments, work design, and work technique training. The system has a module-based platform that enables flexibility of sensor-type utilization, depending on the specific application. A module of the Smart Workwear System that utilizes haptic feedback for work technique training is further presented and evaluated in simulated mail sorting on sixteen novice participants for its potential to reduce adverse arm movements and postures in repetitive manual handling. Upper-arm postures were recorded, using an inertial measurement unit (IMU), perceived pain/discomfort with the Borg CR10-scale, and user experience with a semi-structured interview. This study shows that the use of haptic feedback for work technique training has the potential to significantly reduce the time in adverse upper-arm postures after short periods of training. The haptic feedback was experienced positive and usable by the participants and was effective in supporting learning of how to improve postures and movements. It is concluded that this type of sensorized system, using haptic feedback training, is promising for the future, especially when organizations are introducing newly employed staff, when teaching ergonomics to employees in physically demanding jobs, and when performing ergonomics interventions.

Vibrotactile feedback training may be one possible method for interventions that target at learning better work techniques and improving postures in manual handling. This study aimed to evaluate the short term effect of real-time vibrotactile feedback on postural exposure using a smart workwear system for work postures intervention in simulated industrial order picking. Fifteen workers at an industrial manufacturing plant performed order-picking tasks, in which the vibrotactile feedback was used for postural training at work. The system recorded the trunk and upper arm postures. Questionnaires and semi-structured interviews were conducted about the users’ experience of the system. The results showed reduced time in trunk inclination >= 20 degrees, >= 30 degrees and >= 45 degrees and dominant upper arm elevation >= 30 degrees and >= 45 degrees when the workers received feedback, and for trunk inclination >= 20 degrees, >= 30 degrees and >= 45 degrees and dominant upper arm elevation >= 30 degrees, after feedback withdrawal. The workers perceived the system as useable, comfortable, and supportive for learning. The system has the potential of contributing to improved postures in order picking through an automated short-term training program. 

This paper presents needs and potentials for wearable sensors inoccupational healthcare. In addition, it presents ongoing European and Swedishprojects for developing personalized, and pervasive wearable systems for assessingrisks of developing musculoskeletal disorders and cardiovascular diseases at work.Occupational healthcare should benefit in preventing diseases and disorders byproviding the right feedback at the right time to the right person. Collected datafrom workers can provide evidence supporting the ergonomic and industrial tasksof redesigning the working environment to reduce the risks.

In recent years, many efforts have been made to promote a healthcare paradigm shift from the traditional reactive hospital-centered healthcare approach towards a proactive, patient-oriented and self-managed approach that could improve service quality and help reduce costs while contributing to sustainability. Managing and caring for patients with chronic diseases accounts over 75% of healthcare costs in developed countries. One of the most resource demanding diseases is chronic kidney disease (CKD), which often leads to a gradual and irreparable loss of renal function, with up to 12% of the population showing signs of different stages of this disease. Peritoneal dialysis and home haemodialysis are life-saving home-based renal replacement treatments that, compared to conventional in-center hemodialysis, provide similar long-term patient survival, less restrictions of life-style, such as a more flexible diet, and better flexibility in terms of treatment options and locations. Bioimpedance has been largely used clinically for decades in nutrition for assessing body fluid distributions. Moreover, bioimpedance methods are used to assess the overhydratation state of CKD patients, allowing clinicians to estimate the amount of fluid that should be removed by ultrafiltration. In this work, the initial validation of a handheld bioimpedance system for the assessment of body fluid status that could be used to assist the patient in home-based CKD treatments is presented. The body fluid monitoring system comprises a custom-made handheld tetrapolar bioimpedance spectrometer and a textile-based electrode garment for total body fluid assessment. The system performance was evaluated against the same measurements acquired using a commercial bioimpedance spectrometer for medical use on several voluntary subjects. The analysis of the measurement results and the comparison of the fluid estimations indicated that both devices are equivalent from a measurement performance perspective, allowing for its use on ubiquitous e-healthcare dialysis solutions.

Background and objective: Reduced heart rate variability (HRV) is an indicatorof a malfunctioning autonomic nervous system. Resonant frequencybreathing is a potential non-invasive means of intervention for improvingthe balance of the autonomic nervous system and increasing HRV. However,such breathing exercises are regarded as boring and monotonous tasks.The use of gaming elements (gamification) or a full gaming experience is awell-recognised method for achieving higher motivation and engagement invarious tasks. However, there is limited documented knowledge on how todesign a game for breathing exercises. In particular, the influence of additionalinteractive elements on the main course of training has not yet beenexplored. In this study, we evaluated the satisfaction levels achieved usingdifferent game elements and how disruptive they were to the main task, i.e.,paced breathing training.

Methods: An Android flight game was developed with three game modes thatdiffer in the degrees of multitasking they require. Design, development and evaluation were conducted using a user-centred approach, including contextanalysis, the design of game principle mock-ups, the selection of game principlesthrough a survey, the design of the game mechanics and GUI mock-up,icon testing and the performance of a summative study through user questionnairesand interviews. A summative evaluation of the developed gamewas performed with 11 healthy participants (ages 40-67) in a controlled setting.Results: The results confirm the potential of video games for motivatingplayers to engage in HRV biofeedback training. The highest training performanceon the first try was achieved through pure visualisation rather thanin a multitasking mode. Players had higher motivation to play the morechallenging game and were more interested in long-term engagement.Conclusion: A framework for gamified HRV biofeedback research is presented.It has been shown that multitasking has considerable influence onHRV biofeedback and should be used with an adaptive challenge level.

Bioimedical pilot projects e.g., telemedicine, homecare, animal and human trials usually involve several physiological measurements. Technical development of these projects is time consuming and in particular costly. A versatile but affordable biosignal measurement platform can help to reduce time and risk while keeping the focus on the important goal and making an efficient use of resources. In this work, an affordable and open source platform for development of physiological signals is proposed. As a first step an 8–12 leads electrocardiogram (ECG) and respiration monitoring system is developed. Chips based on iCoupler technology have been used to achieve electrical isolation as required by IEC 60601 for patient safety. The result shows the potential of this platform as a base for prototyping compact, affordable, and medically safe measurement systems. Further work involves both hardware and software development to develop modules. These modules may require development of front-ends for other biosignals or just collect data wirelessly from different devices e.g., blood pressure, weight, bioimpedance spectrum, blood glucose, e.g., through Bluetooth. All design and development documents, files and source codes will be available for non-commercial use through project website, BiosignalPI.org.