Healthy Form Hero

Making injury prevention for runners simple and immediate through a powerful yet easy-to-understand device.

Regular runners need easy-to-understand tools to improve their running form in real-time because injury prevention should be simple and accessible for everyone. According to Yale Medicine, it is estimated that “at least 50 percent of regular runners get hurt each year—some estimates put the percentage even higher—sometimes from trauma, such as a fall, but more often from overuse” (Source) Nobody should suffer from preventable injuries especially when they make the effort to stay healthy and fit. Even though there is a preconceived notion that running is incredibly straightforward, the reality is that so many injuries can be caused by a multitude of factors such as not warming up properly, not having the right kind of shoes for your foot, or hitting the ground too harshly. A 2012 Harvard study showcased that improper foot striking, or otherwise improper running form, can increase the risk of injury almost twofold in comparison to using proper technique. (Source) One current solution to prevent these sorts of injuries is that runners can hire personal trainers - but receiving professional training can be expensive. Other current digital solutions on the market rely on submitting recordings for accurate analysis, which can make it more complicated for runners to understand what good running form feels like and how to replicate it. As a result, regular runners don’t have accessible and real-time tools that can help them improve their form while they’re training - not before or after.

The solution is to build a simple device that can detect whether a proper running form is exhibited in real-time, and showcase it using easy-to-understand cues (red for bad, green for good). The device would contain a camera accessory that is connected to a Raspberry Pi, which can be easily stationed next to a treadmill to view the treadmill floor and the user’s feet. The camera feed would then serve as input for a computer vision algorithm that can detect and categorize whether one's running form is good or bad. Finally, the device would light up green for good, red for bad, and constantly change after a couple of strides to reinforce proper running form in real time. In short, a user would set up the Healthy Form Hero device close to their treadmill station, turn the device on, and simply start running to immediately begin receiving cues on their running form all throughout their work.

Healthy Form Hero would initially serve regular runners, or individuals that steadily train throughout the year and may include some long-distance running into their routine. Even though regular runners might not all be intensely training for marathons or above, they are still incredibly passionate about the sport, the running community, and taking ownership of their health through proper care. If being conservative and only considering individuals with more structured running training plans, more than 5 million individuals have participated in 5Ks, half-marathons, and marathons over the past year, and at least 2.5 million of them had suffered some sort of injury throughout their training. In turn, it can be estimated that Healthy Form Hero has the potential to serve at least 500,000 individuals that need accessible and simple tools to take care of their physical health that they may have not been able to do due to financial or time-management reasons. 

Lara Garcia is a Computer Engineering student with an immense passion for health and wellness, who discovered her love for running like many others during the pandemic. After embarking on her first running journey of training for a half-marathon in 2022, she became obsessed with how thoughtful proper training can be used to both improve performance and avoid injury. Using her experience in machine learning and artificial intelligence from internships and coursework, she found an opportunity to give back to the running world by combining both her passions to improve health outcomes in her community. From her undergraduate research at the MIT Media Lab, to helping students at her university’s entrepreneurship hub StartUP FIU, to refining her machine learning skills at Knight Foundation, her work has all aligned with using data science and human-centered design for social impact.

Behind Healthy Form Hero is also the support of individuals at the FIU School of Engineering and Computing for prototyping purposes, and StartUP FIU for business model validation.

In order to further understand the feelings and opinions of Health Form Hero’s potential users, initial user discovery has been conducted at local running clubs (running gatherings that occur once a week) such as Brickell Run Club and Coral Gables Run Club in Miami, FL. Even though the Health Form Hero device proof of concept is still being designed, the first iterations of the POC are planned to be shown to potential users at the end of February.

For many years, injury prevention has always been a priority for full-time athletes or older generations trying to achieve longevity, thus becoming more of a luxury or afterthought for recreational exercisers such as runners or younger individuals in general. As a result, regular runners don't hire professional trainers at the same frequency individuals hire trainers for gym workouts, even though injuries from running are unfortunately extremely common. When exploring current digital solutions in the market, especially those that are more accessible by being fully digital and software-based, users needed a partner to record them running (which can be uncomfortable or complicated), and would not receive their results until 15-30 minutes after their run. As a result, Healthy Form Hero has the capability of combining the two major advantages of both previous solutions and thus making injury prevention a simple and effective component of everyday running. As the sports medicine market is only projected to increase up to $11.86B in value by 2030 (Source), in part due to government promotion of sports amongst the general public, Healthy Form Hero has the potential to showcase how the industry can be more accessible and inviting for regular individuals that only wish to improve or maintain their health.

The core technology for Healthy Form Hero is the application of a computer vision algorithm that can generate a decisive output in near-to-real time. As shown in the product diagram, a camera connected to a Raspberry Pi serves as the input for the computer vision algorithm, which would allow for the machine learning model to detect and identify parts of a runner's foot (i.e. heel, toe, ankle) and categorize strides as good or bad. The novel idea consists of using this output from the model to feed RGB LED lights, that can light up as green for good or red for bad depending on the runner's most recent strides. 

Since Healthy Form Hero is in its concept phase, this product is currently not serving people. However, we hope that by the next year, by building our proof of concepts and first set of prototypes, our goal is for at least 50 users to test out the Healthy Form Hero.

In terms of barriers, the largest obstacle is securing funding for the prototyping and testing of the Healthy Form Hero device. As a solo founder, who is also an international college student and is currently helping pay for school tuition, technical resources such as a Raspberry Pi and camera are difficult investments to make at the moment. Hopefully micro-grant and pitch competition opportunities are able to provide some financial backing while developing the Healthy Form Hero product. 

FIU College of Engineering and Computing on technology development and prototyping support

StartUP FIU on support with business model validation