One of the notable topics that popped up at the American College of Sports Medicine conference earlier this month was muscle oxygen monitoring. (For more from the ACSM conference, see my previous updates on supershoes and sports psychology.) I wrote an article last year on muscle oxygen sensors, wondering if they would turn out be “the next great fitness wearable.” They’re not there yet, but the new research at ACSM and elsewhere is attempting to build a case.
Quick background: muscle oxygen sensors for athletes are matchbox-sized devices that you stick onto a relevant muscle. For runners or cyclists, that’s somewhere on your legs. The device uses near-infrared spectroscopy to assess what fraction of the hemoglobin and myoglobin molecules in the tissue are carrying oxygen. If the number is increasing, it means that your heart and lungs are delivering more oxygen than the muscle is using. If it’s decreasing, it means demand exceeds supply and exhaustion awaits. The main player in the muscle oxygen space is Moxy, whose devices currently sell for $879.
The new results at ACSM come from a group led by Brett…
