New ‘smart socks’ are helping physiotherapists better diagnose and treat injuries, particularly in remote patients

By Holly Bennett, University of Melbourne

For Australians living in rural and remote areas, access to many of the services urban dwellers take for granted, like physiotherapy, can be limited.

Increasingly, Australian physiotherapists are relying on video consultations to help treat rural and remote patients.

It is becoming common for physiotherapists to use video consultations to diagnose and treat remote patients.

Consulting via video saves patients’ time and money, as they no longer have to endure the sometimes hours-long journey to hospital. However, the technology has its limitations -- particularly the 2-dimensional view of the patient available to the physiotherapist.

But University of Melbourne PhD candidate Deepti Aggarwal, who is based in the Melbourne School of Engineering, has found a solution in perhaps the most unlikely of places – a pair of socks.

To read more about Deepti Aggarwal’s extraordinary wearable technology invention, please click here