Wearable Core Body Temperature Sensors

A number of products exist for measuring core body temperature. CORE is clearly the best and most accurate wearable core body temperature sensor.

You can learn more about the inovatve technology behind CORE here.

Monitoring core body temperature is important for athletic performance. A wearable core body temperature sensor, such as CORE, allows for continual, non-invasive measurements. A number of alternatives exist for measuring core body temperature, but they are eithe invasive, inaccurate, non-continuous, or some combination of the three.

A variety of core body temperature products exist. Few are suitable for everyday sports usage or competition.

Non-continuous thermometers take single ‘spot-measurements’ from the skin or inside the body. These thermometers, typically used for medical diagnosis, read temperature from the forehead, the mouth, the ear, or the rectum. Their accuracy varies from poor to good, but their non-continual measurements makes all of them unsuitable for sports monitoring.

The electronic pill (e-pill) and continuous rectal probe are used by researchers and elite athletes for specific testing in laboratory settings. While their accuracy is high, their invasiveness and expense make them less useful than the wearable core body temperature sensors for competition and everyday training.

The e-pill is a small capsule containing a battery and electronics that is swallowed. The e-pill offers continuous measurement and is considered accurate, but the monitoring is limited to the duration of the pill passing through and exiting the body. The single-use e-pills are expensive, costing 50—80 Euro each and also requiring data logging hardware costing 1000—2000 Euro.

The continuous rectal probe also offers high accuracy in a laboratory setting. But its high level of invasiveness makes it undesirable for regular usage or competition.

To address the limitations of non-continuous thermometers and invasive thermometers, CORE developed a wearable core body temperature sensor. CORE offers both continuous and non-invasive measurements. Worn externally on the torso (typically on a heart rate monitor strap or bra strap) or on the arm (with a strap), most users find CORE very comfortable and quickly become unaware of its presence.

The CORE device uses a miniaturized core body temperature sensor that measures thermal energy transfer from inside the body to the skin. An artificial intelligence algorithm analyses this data to deliver continuous, real-time core body temperature calculations. Extensive testing has shown that CORE provides medical grade accuracy, and also provides a high level accuracy within the tolerance of e-pills for the sports activities and scenarios for which CORE is validated.

It is important that CORE, as a wearable core body temperature sensor used to enhance athletic performance, be as accurate as the e-pill. CORE is continuously tested with a rigid protocol involving professional and amateur athletes and clinical studies. Data collection occurs while training and competing both indoors and outdoors, core body temperature monitored before, during, and after the workout. Simultaneously the athletes use a comparison thermometer (usually the e-pill, and sometimes the rectal probe).

As a result, for the activities and scenarios against which it is validated, the CORE wearable body temperature sensor has the same level of accuracy as invasive thermometers. The following chart shows an example of core body temperatures during ‘everyday living’ and endurance sports activity using both the e-pill and CORE.

CORE is the most accurate wearable core body temperature sensor on the market. Researchers continue to gather data to test and validate CORE for different conditions and scenarios. They also continually compare CORE with control thermometers (such as the e-pill) to refine the algorithm to further increase CORE’s accuracy.

The invasive and expensive e-pills and rectal probes can sometimes be desirable for controlled laboratory usage. But the usability and affordability of an accurate and wearable core body temperature sensor make CORE the logical choice for everyday training and competition. Both professional and amateur athletes are starting to adopt CORE as an indispensable tool. Many consider CORE to be just as important as the heart rate monitor and the power meter.