athlete health tracking - from laboratory measure to popular app
DESCRIPTION
Since the 1980s, elite athletes have used a clinical measure called heart rate variability (HRV) to help assess their fatigue, recovery and readiness to compete, but up until 4 years ago, no user friendly, affordable version was available to recreational athletes and sportspeople. This presentation will cover the stages of bringing HRV out of the lab and onto the smartphone, including making the measurement itself simple and convenient, and the evolution of a user interface that helps users decide when they should train for best effect but also discover lifestyle factors that have a major influence on their performance and overall health.TRANSCRIPT
HRV Fit Ltd © 2013 /myithlete @myithlete
• Introduction
• What is the opportunity?
• What was the challenge?
• How did we approach it?
• How did it come out?
• Thoughts for the future
HRV Fit Ltd © 2013
Contents
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• Biomedical engineer and inventor from Hampshire
• My professional background is in signal processing• digital broadcasting at the BBC in London• Philips Electronics in the UK and Silicon Valley
• Keen, but not very talented endurance athlete • rowing• running• Triathlon • now competitive cyclist
HRV Fit Ltd © 2013
about Simon
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• Deliberately & repeatedly stress the body• Force adaptation through super compensation• Get stronger, faster, more efficient• The magic happens during recovery
• Training = Workouts + Recovery
• If the balance between Workouts & Recovery is wrong, either:• Under-train – improvement is slow or does not occur at all• Over-train – improvement also does not occur !• Overtraining = Under recovery
HRV Fit Ltd © 2013
The timing of training is important
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HRV Fit Ltd © 2013
How do athletes train effectively ?- it’s all in the periodisation
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• Subjective indications: Muscle soreness Fatigue Mood / motivation Stress
• Objective measures: Jump height Reaction times Cardiovascular (autonomic) measures
Resting Heart rate Heart Rate variability (HRV)
HRV Fit Ltd © 2013
Measure recovery & know when to work out
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• HRV is a medical measurement• known about for a long time
• Sensor attached to body• Originally performed using ECG• Some models of HRM strap• Pulse at finger tip
• Used in Soviet space program, elite athletics• Traditionally expensive & complex to perform Challenge: make it simple & inexpensive
HRV Fit Ltd © 2013
What is HRV analysis ?
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HRV Fit Ltd © 2013
Autonomic (involuntary) nervous system
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HRV Fit Ltd © 2014
The ithlete patent is mainly about the UX
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…not new science
• Convenient 1 min measure
• Robust processing algorithms
• User feedback in 3 complementary forms• Traffic lights• Number scale• Charts
• Correlations between objective (HRV) and subjective (Likert scale) measures
HRV Fit Ltd © 2013
UI generation 0 (pre-release)
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Measurement Results
Beta tester feedback: scale not intuitive, lacked countdown timer during measurement
HRV Fit Ltd © 2013
UI generation 1
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Measurement Results
HRV Fit Ltd © 2013
UI generation 2
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Measurement Results
HRV Fit Ltd © 2013
Process to create UI generation 3
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Unfiltered ideas
collection (xls)
Magazine & web
reviews
User surveys
Forum, social media
HRV Fit Ltd © 2013
Process to create UI generation 3
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Unfiltered ideas
Feasibility study
Team review
V3.x Prioritised features
Design concepts
HRV Fit Ltd © 2013
UI generation 1-2 sensors
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Chest strap Receiver
HRV Fit Ltd © 2013
UI generation 3 sensor
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Finger sensor Direct plug in to phones
Why not wireless?
HRV Fit Ltd © 2013
Generation 3 UI
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• Remove distractions during measurement
HRV Fit Ltd © 2013
Generation 3 UI
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• Prioritise most important information whilst allowing detailEnd of measurement Dashboard
HRV Fit Ltd © 2013
Generation 3 UI
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• Collect hygiene & configuration settings in a simple nested menu
HRV Fit Ltd © 2013
ithlete creates a journey of self discovery
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• Landscape chart lets you correlate HRV changes with subjective indicators and training load
HRV Fit Ltd © 2013
What has been the reaction to new UX?
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• Loving the new @myithlete app! Goes into great detail! Check these guys out if you're looking 2monitor #recovery! Lee Doran, Twitter
• Version 3 Awesome! Michael Kress, Twitter
• Love the new app interface! Thanks! Just started using ithlete last week, hoping will help train smarter. Aaron Olson, Twitter
• How often should you update an app?
• How to secure ongoing revenues?
• To what extent should you interface & open up APIs to other apps?
• How closely should you tie the app to your website?
HRV Fit Ltd © 2013
Thoughts for the future
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