T-shirt 'senses' muscle activity
T-shirt 'senses' muscle activity
2008-07-07Newsfeed
Researchers have developed a prototype T-shirt which measures muscular activity and is intended to improve athletes' training regimes, or even prevent against injury.
Researchers have developed a prototype T-shirt which measures muscular activity and is intended to improve athletes' training regimes, or even prevent against injury.
The garment, developed by researchers working on the European ConText Project, contains small sensors that measure the electrical activity of contracting muscle tissue. The European Commission-funded project is intended to test systems where sensors incorporated into textiles can be used to continuously monitor people.
The sensors enable a computer to show exactly which muscles are being used during a particular movement, something that athletes may find useful in helping them develop better ways to use their strength.
"It could be useful for a sport with repetitive movements, like golf," says Craig Williams, a sports scientist from the University of Exeter, who was not involved in the research, told New Scientist magazine.
Torsten Linz, a member of the research team, said that the prototype was tested on a group of hockey players who were able to improve their technique after they saw exactly how different muscles were active when taking shots. The garment could also prevent injury, by detecting when a muscle was working too hard.
He said the new technology was much more unobtrusive than previous attempts to map the pattern of muscle activity, which required electrodes to be stuck to the skin and which impaired natural performance.
Copyright © The Press Association 2008
