A review of wearable technology: Moving beyond the hype: From need through sensor implementation

Wearable devices have garnered increased attention over the past years by the sports industry, military, and general public for everyday use. Technological advancements have enabled athletes, sports teams, soldiers, and physicians to track functional movements, workload, biometric and bio-vital markers to maximize performance and safety while minimizing the potential for injury or accidents. Wearable monitoring systems can provide continuous physiological data thus enabling accurate treatment plans and specific recovery programs. Herein, we present a review of the wearable sensors field in sports and emergency medicine and highlight our current work and collaborations which bridge academia, healthcare professionals, sports team physicians, Life Flight operations, and ED/trauma operations. A key outcome of this work is the identification of crosscutting themes that indicate critical path items for future research.