Philips Lifewheel
A smart activity tracker for Osteoarthritis patients
Client: Philips
Year: 2013
The Lifewheel is a smart activity tracker for people who suffer from Osteoarthritis (OA), the world's most common chronic joint condition. Regular physical activity is very important for OA patients, as it relieves pressure on the joints by strengthening the muscles around them. The Lifewheel supports OA patients by showing how much they move daily and notifying them when personal activity thresholds are reached. The product grows smarter as it gets to know the user better, allowing the user to stay informed about their physical activity and aware of their personal thresholds.
Challenge
In the Netherlands, around 5% of the people suffer from Osteoarthritis. Osteoarthritis involves the degeneration of joints, most commonly the joints in the hands, neck, and knees. These people have limitations in their physical activity or a so-called ‘invisible threshold of activity’. When they move too much they can cross this threshold, which often leads to more problems and fallbacks. However, physical activity is vital for these people as this prevents the joints from getting stiff and ‘dry’. Patients are often unaware of how much they move daily and have trouble exactly knowing their personal activity barriers. At the point that the body warns the patient that he/she has moved too much, it’s often too late and consequences will be unavoidable.
The lifewheel measures and displays activity throughout the day, each block represents a specified amount of energy. The blue represents your average daily activity and can be used as a reference point. When you have passed your recommended maximum daily activity, the scale will continue in red. The activity threshold is initially pre-determined together with a healthcare professional.
Approach
The approach was to develop a product that can be easily carried around by the user, and would tell them the amount they have moved in a day, in relation to their average daily activity and a pre-defined maximum threshold. The idea is that this information would help the user to make better-informed and timely decisions about their daily movement, stimulating daily exercise while avoiding the crossing of personal activity thresholds which could lead to increased pain, setbacks, and other complications. The interface on the lifewheel shows an average point of daily activity, which can be used as a reference point for the user on how much they typically move in a day. The maximum barrier of activity is configured with the help of a health professional. Although it's set on a default value, the user can rotate the ring to increase or decrease the maximum barrier, depending on the mood of the user. A clip on the back of the product allows it to be worn on the pants, on the collar of a shirt or simply in the pocket of the user's pants. The lifewheel is a smart product that enables the user to make timely decisions and reduces the risk of passing personal thresholds which could lead to pain, fallbacks and other complications.