Hands-On With the iHealth Blood Pressure Dock [Health]

Back in 2009, when Apple announced accessory support for iPhone OS, they proposed an at-home medical device capable of sending data to doctors. The iHealth dock is that device, and it can totally transform your relationship together with your blood pressure.

There are quite a few reasons people take their blood pressure at home, and a blood pressure gizmo is usually had at any local drugstore for as little as $30. But the iHealth dock-a non-descript white charging station for iPhones and iPads-and accompanying Blood Pressure Monitor app update the self-administered blood pressure test for the 21st century. It doesn’t just simplify the act of getting a blood pressure reading and streamline the means of sending that data to a health care provider; it makes the complete idea of doing potentially scary health stuff at home an awful lot less intimidating. It’s a small but significant step in what is usually a big paradigm shift in medicine, leveraging the ability of the connected devices to make staying healthy more straightforward and more efficient.

The iHealth dock, which charges the iPad when it’s plugged in and runs on a battery when it isn’t, comes with a standard blood pressure arm cuff which might be detached and stored when not in use. The app itself-colorful, touchable, and friendly-does the remainder of the work, maintaining a tally of your readings, showing ‘em to you in easy-to-read graphs, and beaming them in your doctor via email.

Strapping the cuff on within the Gizmodo office felt variety of weird-there’s some strangeness to doing belongings you’ve only ever done in a health care provider’s office not in a physician’s office-however it’s a pleasing weirdness. The app doesn’t look any further foreboding than any of the opposite apps you’re used to using in your iPhone or iPad-in truth, it looks more inviting than most-and usually makes taking your blood pressure understandable and unintimidating. After the familiar squeeze of the arm, the app informed me that my blood pressure was a chunk high-thanks, CES!-and logged it besides the date and time for future retrieval. It was easy, it worked, and it didn’t complicate matters by making manage anything resembling a scary hospital procedure.

iHeath plans to expand their line of devices with a glucose monitor and connected scale later this year. The company hopes that the products won’t just entice folks that must take their own medical data but additionally to those who just wish to. And while the doctor’s office will always has its place, giving people the tools to examine up on themselves on their lonesome time is a very powerful idea.

The iHealth blood pressure dock is on sale now at Health99.com for $99.95 and may be available at Apple Stores later this month. [ Health 99 ]

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This post is tagged: blood pressure monitor, charging station, health care provider, medical device, Paradigm Shift, pressure test, strangeness