Developed by MIT and MGH Scientists, FIGUR8’s Sensor Platform Captures Micrometer Precision Muscle and Joint Movement to Accurately Diagnose Soft-Tissue Injuries
FIGUR8 today announced the launch of the first digital health platform to objectively measure and longitudinally track body movement as a biomarker. In just minutes, clinicians can take clients through a FIGUR8 assessment to establish a movement health baseline, diagnose movement dysfunction, identify injury risk, optimize exercise routines and monitor progress. The company’s highly accurate, cost-effective and portable on-body assessment system was developed in collaboration between Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Sports Science Lab and MIT Media Lab researchers.
During any movement, FIGUR8’s patented sensor technology quantifies a combination of micrometer precision signals of muscle activity and joint mobility. From a single movement assessment, over one million unique data points are produced and instantly analyzed by sophisticated algorithms to generate actionable biomechanical insights for clinicians.
FIGUR8’s breakthrough technology reduces the cost of state-of-the-art movement testing equipment by as much as 95 percent and delivers a more effective solution than MRIs and X-rays for screening soft-tissue related symptoms. FIGUR8 is currently working with elite athletes, teams, training facilities and major occupational and physical therapy clinics. These early developmental partnerships allow FIGUR8 to generate data assets that can be used for clinical studies by major medical centers in areas such as Parkinson’s disease and stroke diagnostics and recovery.
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“Measuring musculoskeletal performance and recovery has historically been limited to visual and hands-on assessments, providing little to no quantifiable data,” said Habib Haddad of E14 Fund. “This limitation makes accurate, large-scale and cost-effective treatment assessments nearly impossible. We believe FIGUR8 has identified a significant technological breakthrough and look forward to advancing the understanding of human movement through the company’s groundbreaking sensor technologies.”
FIGUR8 developed its diagnostics platform through a seed round led by P5 Health Ventures with participation from E14 Fund, and other individual investors. FIGUR8’s total investment to date is $7.5 million. The company offers healthcare professionals an advanced movement assessment system designed to be used in nearly any environment, without the need for cumbersome and expensive cameras. FIGUR8 combines lightweight, low-profile and highly accurate sensors with proprietary algorithms to map sensor information with the biomechanics of the human body. The company’s award-winning FlexTech Sensors can be manually applied to multiple body locations in a matter of minutes to collect data unobtrusively. The advanced movement data – including muscle activation timing and intensity with joint angles, acceleration and motion in 3D space – is then made instantly available through an all-in-one, easy-to-use web-based platform.
“FIGUR8 is completely unique in its ability to aid clinicians in quantifying mobility health markers captured during any activity,” said FIGUR8 CEO, Dr. Nan-Wei Gong. “These assessments highlight the weaknesses and anomalies of body segments, which could be a symptom of an injury, disease, or simply a target for performance optimization.”
Date: September 03, 2019
Source: Business Wire
