Artificial senses and computer wearable design for health and wellness

This paper shows some of the outcomes of the ongoing research on Design for wellness and for medical devices carried out at the Polytechnic University of Bari. Particularly it focuses on the role of the ICT and the wearable technology in in the orthopedic field for the skeletal muscle strengthening and postural correction. Proprioception and posture are strictly connected because the proprioceptive sensibility allows to be conscious about the position of the articulation and of the skeletal, the muscle tensions and the movement (Kinaesthesia). Posture is the expression of an inherited experience (such as personal experience, training and physical and emotional trauma) and a rehab training, as far as a medical treatment, needs to focus the emotional sphere of the user – patient. So, the question behind the research presented is: could ICT systems and the IOT address product design towards the definition of a new generation of interactive systems able to perform a postural positive rehabilitation and correction trough the enhancement of the proprioceptive sensitivity? Could design practices and methods help in a new vison for medical scientific frameworks in order to give a positive value to the medical treatment and rehabilitation experience focusing on the patient? Could the empowerment of the patient be enabled by Iot and smart devices? In order to give an answer to that question the paper shows a meaningful selection of devises and technology in the state of the art and the results of the experimental phase: a smart lumbar belt and an app.