Star Trek superstar and social media whiz George Takei may not get his check up from Dr. McCoy and his tricoder medical scanner anymore, but he still uses the latest technology to stay healthy. In a recent YouTube video of Takei’s Take, he heads to Boston to take a look at all the cool medical tech at AARP’s Innovation at 50+ conference. While there, Takei gets discovers the smartphone physical: a full physical exam given by a doctor with a smartphone.
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Takei talks to all the innovators who are creating biotechnology and gets a full exam, using only a smartphone and a few accessories. He tests a electrocardiogram device that uses your iPhone case to measure your heart rate, an iPhone attachment that can take pictures of your inner ear drum to make sure your hearing isn’t damaged, and an ultrasound device that checks your arteries for clogging.
All of the accessories are very small and could easily be carried in your pocket, so that you can keep tabs on your health while you’re on the go — all from your phone. One of the people Takei talks to is PhD student Mike Batista who also happens to be the co-founder of the Smartphone Physical kit made by Quantified Health. There’s an Indiegogo fund-raising campaign for the kit.
The doctor’s bag includes several mHealth devices, such as a blood pressure monitor, pulse oximeter, scale, heart monitor, ophthalmoscope, and thermometer — all of which can connect to an app on your smartphone so you can see the relevant data. Some of the tools should still be used by medical professionals, but the portability of the items could certainly make home visits and home care much easier for senior citizens and others with serious medical issues.
Such developments are particularly interesting when considered in light of Apple’s new HealthKit, Google’s efforts in the space, and Samsung’s wearable lineup, which also focuses on health.
Health, fitness, and medicine are a new frontier for mobile tech.