Batou (Ghost in the Shell).

As has become customary at this time of year, I’ll share a few thoughts on the fitness-related changes I suspect we’ll see in the year ahead. Things that will have an impact whether you’re on the ‘training regularly‘ or ‘fitness professional‘ side of the fence.


Diving in :

• Suspected brain injuries are diagnosed on sporting field sidelines, while the play continues. Players are often cleared and returned within the same game.
  NB : even if a brain injury is discovered, it is quite possibly treatable. For more on this, see the piece on Therapeutic Hypothermia we looked at recently.
• Wearable devices begin to include constant blood glucose monitors. Paired with their health & fitness recommendations, these begin to become far more common.
  Particularly among professional athletes.
• Human trials of synthetic blood begin. It even gets used in surgery.
  NB : this doesn’t wipe out the need for blood donations – yet.
• Virtual Reality has a vast number of potential uses, one of which is an anatomy app. Several of these are created, initially for educational uses.
  NB : as the technology improves, these apps become far more powerful – gradually incorporating more and more actual patient data.
• Pain levels become quantifiable – measured via an implanted or an external device. Initially for use solely in a handful of medical settings, quickly moving to hospice and home care environments.
• The X-Prize ‘tricorder‘ competition wraps up, with the birth of several extremely promising medical diagnostic devices. Handheld, and able to automatically diagnose an ever-growing list of illnesses.

Over to you. What are your own thoughts on the various items above? What else would you expect to see, and when?