Measure What Matters powered by TRAZER

If you can't measure it, how do you improve. In the healthcare, athletic, military and senior space, the world struggles with objectively quantifying neuromechanical (the connection of the vision, mind and body) movement and performance.

In healthcare, with physicals from the time we are very young, we don't measure basic movement abilities. We measure heart-rate, blood pressure, reflexes, breathing, height, weight but not movement, especially reactive movement that combines the interconnectivity of the vision, mind and body. Why? Is it not important? Do movement limitations or changes one year to the next not identify other issues? While I haven't yet figured out the why (I do have my own theories), the importance of measuring movement at all stages of our lives has significant meaning and provides meaningful data. Measuring reaction time, gait speed, acceleration and deceleration can assist a clinician with diagnosis, objectively measuring rehabilitation progress and track improvements or declines over time. I'm not doctor, but that data and measuring movement seems valuable.

In athletics, we keep statistics on more things than it is seemingly possible. We run endurance tests (beep tests), measure speed (40 yard dash), agility (cone drills), strength (bench press), but are we truly measuring what matters most. Do teams use a objective baseline that measures an athlete with heart-rate elevated, with their vestibular challenged, testing whole body reaction times in game-like simulation that can be used both for head and other orthopedic injuries. Most don't. They rely on cognitive testing which is limited in its value to the AT or clinician. Do we measure degradations in our movement in different directions? I have no degree in athletic training but measuring reaction time, gait speed, acceleration and deceleration tracked in 8 different directions seems like it would provide pretty valuable movement data.

In the military deploying a fit and trained force, where and when needed, is the singular most important mission of the Nation’s military. The Services spends millions of dollars each year to support this mission, from recruitment and retention of the force, to meeting the physical standards established for the Service, the school or the deployment mission. Each year, Service members are identified as having physical limitations that result in either separation or being placed in a non-deployable status. Conversely, many military entrants hide an injury to facilitate entry into the military or to allow attendance to military schooling or deploy with their units. This costs the military significant expense and leaves our forces less ready, as well as missing out on other qualified candidates. Are we doing enough to identify these issues up front by measuring and creating minimum movement standards, as well as establishing a baseline for every member? Measurement data that identifies deficiencies and objectively measure changes over all the military phases seems like a no brainer to me.

For the senior population, one of, if not the biggest fear for this group is the fear of falling. The healthcare system has identified the huge expense associated with falls and that data mostly represents the medical cost. There is also a significant emotional cost for the patient, family and the caregiver staffing trying to address the issue. Reaction time, gait speed and deceleration (the ability to stop) are the biggest identifiers of risk of falls, but are we doing enough to capture this information, identifying the risk and then working on mitigative strategies to lower the falls risk.

As so many people have identified, the healthcare system is broken. We focus on reactive care, not proactive. The status quo is the norm, but statistics say that is killing our economy. I believe Warren Buffet said, something to the effect that healthcare costs are the tapeworm that is eating us alive, becoming a greater percentage of GDP everyday.

At TRAZER, we are looking at one huge opportunity to make a difference by empowering organizations to make better more proactive and relevant decisions everyday based on objective, actionable data driven neuromechanical movement information to drive the best value based care for each individual.

Find out more about TRAZER, the technology and who is using it at www.trazer.com. Join the TRAZER movement and Measure What Matters in your organization.