Sensing strategies in wearable bio-mechanical systems for medicine and sport: a review

The relevance of wearable sensing systems has increased in recent years, particularly in medicine and sport. In these fields, the main benefit of non-invasive and comfortable wearable devices is the real time evaluation of a patient’s physiological conditions. Body monitoring is generally based on the measurement of heart rate, heart rate variability, body motion, breath, skin temperature and metabolic parameters (electrolytes, lactic acid, pH, etc). The basic requirements of wearable systems are lightness, flexibility, reliability and low power consumption. In addition, wearable sensors must provide acceptable levels of accuracy, repeatability and noise. Different solutions have been proposed to develop sensors specifically for wearable systems. The evolution of materials, the reduction of power consumption and the development of fiber treatments have supported the prototyping of integrated wearable sensing systems. The goal of this review is to provide a general description of the technologies relating to wearable sensors that have been adopted in medicine and sport, and to review device typologies, sensing strategies and future perspectives.