Imec and VUB have founded Skinetix. The start-up develops a platform that supports top athletes to train better and rehabilitate faster. A pair of sports trousers with integrated sensors records detailed movement and muscle activity. By enriching that data with a personalised biomechanical AI model, the platform grants insights into movement quality, muscle fitness and fatigue. This allows the athlete to meticulously adjust training.
Injuries give top athletes, but also their entourage, headaches. Who is ready to play? Who is better off training separately in function of rehabilitation? With a well-filled calendar, the pressure in competitive sport is increasing. In addition to monitoring the fitness of individual athletes, a quantitative measurement of 'team readiness' is a crucial advantage for line-up choices in matches, and ultimately profits.
Injury time for top athletes
Besides sporting suffering, injuries are also associated with financial setbacks. In UEFA's top five leagues, the injury cost is estimated at more than €700 million per playing season. Almost half of that cost is caused by injuries to the hamstrings, a system of three muscles at the back of the thigh. Hamstring injuries typically occur after a tear in one of those three muscles, followed by imbalance and overuse of the other muscles.
Skinetix monitors muscles
The Skinetix platform assists the medical entourage by accurately monitoring the individual muscles in the hamstrings. Once the injury is present, during training, the platform charts in detail the forces each muscle has to endure, the balance, and the level of fatigue. These are important parameters when supporting an athlete in his rehabilitation (return to play) and fitness optimisation (train to peak).
Real-time measurements on the pitch, real-time insights off the pitch
As part of their PhD research, Skinetix co-founders Joris De Winter (CEO) and Kevin Langlois (CTO), together with imec and VUB, developed a patented way to measure individual muscles and bring them together in a scientifically based model for personalised biodynamic data. What is also unique is that this data is not collected in a lab, but directly on the playing field. Skinetix therefore designed sportswear with integrated electromyogram (EMG) sensors. These sensors capture the electrical impulses our brain sends to the muscles during a specific movement. All these sensors are seamlessly integrated into the sportswear.
Detailed information
Today, physiotherapists and sports doctors use their eyes or cameras to analyse movements, which gives them only superficial and non-quantitative information. With the platform, sports professionals can access detailed information to map the quality of a movement and the function of a muscle. The measured data is then transmitted to the Skinetix data platform. There, the information is linked to a personalised biomechanical model of the athlete. Using AI, it becomes possible to map an individual player's evolution or compare players with each other - and generate insights to optimise the training programme.
Prototype ready
Skinetix is included in imec's istart programme, which will help them grow and develop the company. The spin-off also received support from the Blue Health Innovation Fund. The scientific validation has been completed and the spin-off is currently doing tests with the prototype, together with the Belgian Athletics Federation and top clubs from the Belgian football league.
Marketing
From 2026, the co-founders want to go to market with their product. To do so, they aim first at the football leagues worldwide, with later expansion into American football, athletics, basketball and baseball, together a potential market of 1.5 billion euros with over 250,000 professional athletes.
Joris De Winter, CEO Skinetix: "With a full playing calendar, staying injury-free is an immense challenge for professional athletes, across all disciplines. With biomechanical, data-driven insights from the field, we optimise the way athletes train so they perform better or rehabilitate faster. Given the huge cost of injuries, this is a technology that can transform elite sport."
Roel Parys, team doctor Team Belgium, Athletics: "It is crucial to measure the muscle activity of individual muscles after an injury in order to reduce the chance of relapse and ensure an optimal 'return to performance'. With current products outside the laboratory, this is not possible."
See also: Innovative sensor measures oxygen levels in breath
Featured image: A pair of sports trousers with integrated sensors records movement and muscle activity in detail. The technology is of great interest to top-level athletes. (photo: Imec)
