It is not secret that sitting in front of your computer all day and typing away on the keyboard is bad for your health as it could potentially lead to repetitive stress injuries such as carpal tunnel. Well Apple might have a way to help prevent that, or at least notify you so that you can work towards preventing it yourself.
In a patent discovered by Patently Apple (via Cult of Mac), it makes reference to a potential future Apple Watch in which the sensors on the underside of the watch can measure things such as “skin proximity and tilt effect”, basically saying that the watch will be able to tell where the watch is on your wrist in relation to the ground.
Why is this important? Basically it will be able to gather data such as how much your wrist is bending, which in turn will be able to look out for signs that you might be on the path towards giving yourself a repetitive stress injury. Right now there are smartwatches and fitness bands that alert the wearer that they have been sitting too long, so we suppose such a feature might not be a stretch of the imagination.
The data gathered can also be provided to doctors who might be able to use it to see if you might have already developed carpal tunnel, or to warn you that you are close and perhaps prescribe some exercises to help with it. Apple has designed the Apple Watch to be your fitness and health companion, so such a feature makes sense, but whether or not Apple implements it in future Apple Watches remains to be seen.
Filed in . Read more about Apple Watch, Health, Patent, Smartwatch and Wearable Tech.