When you’re an athlete, your sport can sometimes end in inevitable injuries that could go unnoticed. A pair of Lycra pants has been developed, equipped with pressure-sensing film to detect wounds. Designed by Innovation Design Engineering and Global Innovation students Elena Dieckmann, Dan Garrett, Lucy Jung, and Ming Kong from the Imperial College London, this technology is specifically targeted to help paralympians identify injuries that aren’t detected until it is too late. These impact-detecting pants provide a safer alternative to sportswear that could be extremely beneficial in the long run.
The Fuji mylar pressure-sensing film sewn in the “bruise trousers” is the same kind used to detect the gap in industrial settings. For example, this film measures the pressure between factory machines and compression rollers and monitors newspaper printing facilities. When higher levels of pressure are applied to the film-laden pants, the magenta color on the fabric intensifies; the darker the shade of the color that appears on the pants, the harder the injury.
Paralympic athletes are exposed to many dangers when playing sports. Sometimes, these athletes crash and wipe out, walking away seemingly unscathed, not yet realizing that they’ve hurt themselves. Injuries like these are very severe and can cause health complications later in life. Paraplegic athletes have increased chances of suffering from Autonomic Dysreflexia (AD), where the body cannot regulate blood pressure levels adequately, and a rise in blood pressure could lead to death. AD is triggered when the body is injured in any form. If the warning signs of possible injury are ignored, the paraplegic athletes could have no idea what’s going on with their bodies.
The students tested this technology by using a droptower, draping the film on animal bones, and bashing different parts at varying intensity levels. Each blow drew color from the film depending on how hard the area was hit.
Team GB Paralympic alpine skier, Talan Skeels-Piggins, contributed to the prototypes of this project, hoping to one day have an entire suit of this kind. In the future, the team hopes to integrate this technology into various athletic garb and brands like Under Armor. In an interview, Skeels-Piggins stated, “The suit would give peace of mind to the athletes, trainers, physics and support staff. It would immediately highlight a need for medical assessment or treatment. This allows the athlete to train at the limits rather than going (regularly) beyond them and suffering injury which would lead to time out of the training environment.” The uses of this suit can expand to other athletes participating in all sorts of activities all over the world.
The pants are still being developed, and the team will eventually create a complete bruise suit as well as other products for similar applications in the fields of health and wellness.
Story via Wired UK, Imperial College London
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