Skip to main content

Improve circulation in your lower body with Footbeat, the wearable in your shoe

Footbeat - Welcome To Your Recovery
You may not have been born with an engine to power your movement, but thanks to 21st century technology, you can certainly add one. No, we’re not talking about turning you into a bionic human, or implanting another heart into your body. Rather, you can introduce an engine to your system by way of Footbeat, a new wearable that features a “small yet powerful engine” to provide “precise, cyclic compression to the arch of the foot.”

Available as either insoles or an entire shoe system (which includes a pair of sneakers that the company calls “Mocs”), the Footbeat claims to speed recovery, remove metabolic waste like lactate, and assist in proper healing by increasing circulation throughout your lower body. Think of it as a heart for your foot — exactly what you’ve always wanted.

Meant for folks who are recovering from an edema, venous insufficiency, lymphedema, plantar fasciitis, foot ulcers, or peripheral neuropathy, Footbeat hopes to help get folks back on their feet and active once again.

Last January, AVEX LLC, the Colorado-based medical device company behind Footbeat, announced that it had raised $7.6 million to launch the wearable later in the year. “We’re bringing a device to market that will transform lives through improved health and athletic recovery,” AVEX CEO Matt Mayer said in a statement at the time. And now, Footbeat is well and truly available. 

In the arch of the insole lies a foot pump, or plantar venous plexus. When the wearable is turned on, the pump applies pressure in regular intervals to the arch of your foot, mimicking the pressure you would create if you were, say, walking around or running. As Footbeat explains on its website, “The single-pulse massage motion is applied to the bottom of the foot (every 35 seconds for Footbeat Health and every 20 seconds for the Footbeat Sport). The pad rises into the arch of the foot and holds for two seconds.”

While you’re moving, you can give Footbeat a rest, but the idea is that the wearable aids in active recovery, particularly for folks with poor lower body circulation. While clinical studies suggest that Footbeat is indeed quite effective, it’s a rather pricy system. The entire system, including the shoes, insoles, and a remote for easy control of the massaging pressure, is available for purchase for $449.

Editors' Recommendations

Lulu Chang
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Fascinated by the effects of technology on human interaction, Lulu believes that if her parents can use your new app…
Wearables don’t work the same on dark skin. It’s time to change that
does skin tone affect ppg heart rate sensor accuracy sensors

Ever since wearables equipped with heart rate tech began entering the mainstream, there have been questions about the accuracy of optical heart rate sensors when taking readings on different skin tones. From Apple’s infamous so-called “tattoogate” shining a green LED light on the problem in 2015 to various academic studies during the years that followed, there has been a lot of discussion, but not a lot of conclusions.

What happened? Have sensors changed to cope with different skin tones, or has the industry failed to change? It turns out the early research has prompted change, and may also inspire new standards for wearable heart rate sensors.
The heart rate sensor on your wrist
The optical heart rate sensor on the back of your smartwatch or fitness tracker works using an established technology called photoplethysmography (PPG), where a very bright light shines through your skin and tissue to measure blood flow. The information is then reflected back and interpreted to provide your heart rate.

Read more
TCL Wearable Display squeezes a giant HD TV into a pair of sunglasses
TCL Wearable Display

Not too much time was necessarily spent coming up with the current working title for TCL’s wearable display, the, err, TCL Wearable Display, but make no mistake: This is no rushed attempt to bring a pair of smartglasses to market.

Formerly known as TCL Project Archery, this wearable -- which promises a virtual screen the equivalent size to a 100-inch television -- has been shown off in various stages for the past couple of years. At this year’s virtual CES, however, the company responsible for it has finally gotten around to showcasing the wearable in something approaching a market-ready form.

Read more
This A.I.-powered collar translates your dog’s barks and body language
Petpuls A.I.-powered dog collar

Have you ever wondered what your pet is trying to tell you? This collar may hold the answer. It's one of the more intriguing pet-specific gadgets at CES 2021. CES has always been packed with pet-products that make caring for your pet more convenient, but few have had the potential impact of Petpuls' A.I.-powered smart collar.

This collar uses voice recognition technology to detect and track five different emotional states. It analyzes the tone and pitch of your dog's bark to tell you whether your pup feels happy, anxious, angry, sad, or relaxed -- it's just missing "squirrel." If you are getting Up vibes, you aren't alone.

Read more