Smart Knee Brace

Hello everybody,

We have developed a knee brace which monitors potentially dangerous movements for the knee during ski descends. We have a working prototype, and now we need your feedback

Here is the demo and a feedback form: http://eskimobrace.azurewebsites.net

Too much focus on ligaments.

Maybe I am being a bit harsh but what a ridiculous concept, skiing is inherently dangerous for your knees. Just don't see how a phone app would have compensated for the lack of technique and co-ordination during my own knee injury. Much easier to imagine what might of happened to the phone when receiving the warning text as I called in a helicopter for recovery :-).

Part of learning e.g. snow plough, non perfect carved turns means you cannot ski stacked so there is likely to be some misalignment between knee, hip and ankle. 99% of people would be continuously receiving text messages.

If you can ski well then at risk behaviour puts you in danger; speed, terrain, jumps, crashing, powder, messing about, lifts etc. All of these place you in same danger as a beginner in not being stacked.

Rupturing a ligament effectively happens when your proprioception lets you down and is instantaneous. Your muscles not reacting correctly to the relative position of your body. The classic example being in the back seat, your thighs are working overtime to pull you back up and your hamstring are not properly activated. This leaves you knee in the hands of lady luck, end up in this position often enough and something will happen.

Since my own injury the only difference in my skiing is that I am perhaps more proactive in falling / bailing, focusing on safe falls versus hero rescues. I also keep my din settings low where safe to do so. When you are skiing well, anticipating terrain is amazing how they don't come off even on kiddy settings. Better to buy an app that improves your ski fitness than a fancy brace.

We are focusing on growing corrective behaviour. We are not limiting your movements during descends, or telling you split seconds after your ruptured your ligament "Hey you have problems with your ligaments".

We are saying, "Hey there has been some serious stress on your ligaments during the last descends" and then "show you corrective movements for lowering the stress"

I didn't understand what you mean by ski fitness ? Is there a fitness state in which you have to be in order to ski safely ?

'I didn't understand what you mean by ski fitness ? Is there a fitness state in which you have to be in order to ski safely ?'.

Absolutely I would of thought you had read plenty of research about injuries as a result of fatigue, 'last run of day syndrome'. In addition building strong hamstring and glute muscles are fundamental to knee stability. Pre-habilitation to prevent injury, restore bio-mechanics etc. Bio mechanics are critical for most people; as a child you run, jump etc. in playground. Even an active adult might only go to gym or run on road/treadmill, bike all of which are of limited benefit to learning 'good movement' and improving your proprioception. So yes I would argue all of above are of far more use to protecting your knee than a brace.

It looks to me like your device could be classified as a medical device, if this is the case it will have to be approved by the regulatory authorities before you can put it on the market.

The EU Directive 2007/47/EC defines a medical device as:
'Any instrument, apparatus, appliance, material or other article, whether used alone or in combination, together with any accessories or software for its proper functioning, intended by the manufacturer to be used for human beings in the:
• Diagnosis, prevention, monitoring, treatment or alleviation of disease, injury or handicap,
• Investigation, replacement or modification of the anatomy or of a physiological process, or
• Control of conception,
and which does not achieve its principal intended action in or on the human body by pharmacological, immunological or metabolic means, but which may be assisted in its function by such means.'

I also can't see the point of the device. The primary cause of ligament injuries in skiing is well known, the bindings often don't release before serious ligament trauma occurs. They were never designed to do so, they were primarily designed to prevent broken legs.

The Swiss Council for Accident Prevention recently commissioned a report on the current situation from Prof. Dr.-Ing. Veit Senner http://www.professoren.tum.de/en/senner-veit/ one of the experts in the field.

This is an abridged version in English http://goo.gl/UQUaKy and this is the full German version http://goo.gl/DqTf1N

Salomon have already patented a binding with sensors that measure the angle of knee flex in order to trigger release

I got my first ACL brace many years ago after a full tear in my 20's. I have to admit, sometimes I use it, sometimes I don't. Ranchero's comments in some way explain why. I've been a 30-50 day a season skier for 30+ years. 25 of those years as a Patoller. While I don't take the risks I used to, I like to think I don't have to work as hard as other skiers because I have a well practiced technique. However, as I get older (and no longer Patrol) my technique gets lazier.

I have a good friend whose daughter is a level 3 instructor. She's nice enough to give me free impromptu lessons most times I'm lucky (courageous) enough to catch her. Which works out to a lesson every few weeks on average.

Finally getting to my point. I enjoy and value the lessons I still take (partially because they are FREE) to improve my technique. I would see the output from this device as just another tool in my toolbox for improvement advice.

I wonder what it would tell me as I run up and down our river valley when I run my dog?

I'm guessing this is marketed to Racers and geezers.

For that reason I (not a racer) would try one if I had he chance.

Whether or not I would purchase one is really dependent on getting value from the data. Also, does it give the same advice to me as it would a 16year old racer as it does a 30 year old??? One size fits all data may not be specific enough to add value??

If you are looking for a Beta test subject, I'd volunteer. I'll tell you if I'm right or not.

Two more comments.

First, your website needs to be proofread by some proficient in English

Also, in Canada, Eskimo is considered a derogatory term used to describe northern indigenous people. Just sayin.