2017 has been hailed as the year that wearables begin to move away from the wrist and into niche markets, one of the most prominent markets being healthcare. At this point, it’s pretty evident that the healthcare sector is about to see a huge influx of wearable medical garments in the year to come. This brings to light a question: What makes a medical garment?
Medical garments are any wearable garment that provides insight or aid into the general health, healing process, vitals, or diagnostics of the wearer. (That being said, there doesn’t seem to be a standardized definition of what features a garment must have to be classified as a medical garment. One could argue that a doctors jacket or scrubs are also medical garment as they are designed specifically for the medical field.) These garments can range from anything from a compression stocking, to a cooling vest, to a smart belt or holster that can hold technology to measure vitals or collect other data. The broad nature of this topic leads to unlimited potential for new medical and textile innovations, as well as further necessity driven discoveries based in different healthcare sectors. The use of medical grade textiles or smart textiles in the development process can also lead to additional functions, such as making the garment antimicrobial, self healing, etc.
As medical garments become more accessible to the general population, it seems as though these garments will be used for much more than treating a specified illness or as a wearable therapy device. With recent (well and widely received) research from the Stanford University of Medicine indicating that the biosensors used in traditional wearables can detect an illness before you even have symptoms (more on that here!), even wearables may start focusing on health beyond tracking fitness. In order to get more accurate results, it will be beneficial to (as predicted) move the wearables away from the wrist and onto a part of the body that could give not only more accurate results, but also provide more information and further insight into the general wellbeing of the wearer. This could also redefine the practice of home health care: with patients access to real time diagnostics, it gives them not only a new level of medical independence, but also a new level of control over their quantified self.
While we have previously written about Medical vests and Medical Organ holsters, there are other garment solutions depending on the garments purpose. Both vests and organ holsters fit under the broad umbrella term of “medical garments”. We have worked with numerous companies from the prototype and designs all the way up to full-manufacturing runs of medical garments and custom solutions to wearable devices. Our garments can be custom tailored to any device in order to take full advantage of the devices technological capability while offering upmost comfort for the wearer. We have developed specialized bands, holsters, pouches, and more that make medical devices easy to wear and non-invasive.
Through our experiences working with medical device solutions, we have learned that the medical garment field has infinite untapped potential. With the emergence of new illnesses, treatments, and therapies will come new wearable medical garments with the goal of making treatment as easy as possible.
Do you have an idea for a Wearable Medical Garment? Start the development process today.