Monitoring Physiotherapists’ Well-Being Through Smart Clothing: Insights From Our Latest Study

As part of Smartex’s ongoing commitment to advancing well-being in healthcare environments, our latest research phase explored how the everyday activities of physiotherapists influence their physical and emotional health. Using an intelligent sensor-equipped garment capable of collecting real-time physiological and environmental data, we conducted an in-depth analysis inside rehabilitation gyms during routine clinical operations.

Understanding the Physiological and Emotional Impact of Daily Clinical Work

Movements, posture, heart activity, breathing: these parameters shape how physiotherapists experience their workday, affecting physical strain, stress response, and emotional balance. To achieve a complete and accurate understanding, physiological measurements were complemented by validated psychometric questionnaires assessing mental workload, emotional state, and perceived stress.Scientific literature consistently highlights how biomechanical load and emotional demand can significantly impact workers’ fatigue, concentration, and long-term well-being. Monitoring these variables is therefore essential for designing healthier and more sustainable care environments.

The Smart Shirt as a Continuous Monitoring System

To collect precise physiological data, the study employed a high-fidelity smart shirt developed by Smartex, integrating textile-based sensors for biomechanics and cardiopulmonary activity.The system measures real-time parameters such as:

• Trunk posture and movement patterns

• Heart rate and heart rate variability (HRV)

• Respiratory effort

• Environmental conditions of the workspace

These measurements provide a dynamic and objective overview of the operators’ day, enabling clear distinctions between safe and demanding postures, between stable and stressful phases, and between different work environments. The integration of wearable data with self-reported emotional states allows researchers to identify stress patterns linked to both internal (physiological) and external (organizational or environmental) factors.

Towards a Reference Index for Operator Well-Being

The ultimate goal of this combined analysis is the development of a reference index capable of detecting and predicting conditions of physiological or emotional overload.Within the study, wearable data were synchronized with psychometric questionnaires and contextual factors such as patient complexity and workload intensity across different rehabilitation units.By merging these dimensions, the project aims to support healthcare teams, risk prevention units, and workplace managers with predictive tools for early stress detection and personalized intervention strategies.

Results and Next Steps

Preliminary findings highlight meaningful differences between rehabilitation environments. Units dealing with more severe or dependent patients exhibited progressive reductions in HRV throughout the day, while less demanding contexts maintained more stable values. Changes in gym assignment—when operators moved to more intensive wards—generated immediate drops in autonomic well-being indicators, marking clear adaptation-related stress.These results have been discussed and validated within the project’s methodological framework, ensuring compliance with ethical, procedural, and operational standards. Testing phases confirmed both the technical reliability of the smart garment and the practical usability of the collected data to inform future large-scale deployment.

Innovation for a Healthier Work Environment

This study shows how ergonomics, wearable technology, and data science can converge to transform well-being in healthcare settings. Smart clothing enables objective, continuous, and non-invasive monitoring of workers’ physical and emotional load, offering new opportunities for early stress detection and more sustainable workplace design.The initiative reinforces Smartex’s mission: turning technological innovation into meaningful tools for care, where data and people work together to build safer, healthier, and more human working environments.

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