I-Dot, Tool for Assessing Exercise Body Temperature
My husband took part in a 5K in Lexington, KY this past week. He crossed the finish in under 23 minutes, by the way, so congrats to him. Before the race he was approached by some folks who asked him to wear an “I-Dot” during his run. Above is a picture.
This small, adhesive dot is being used to access body temperature during exercise. It turns from black to bright yellow when the core body temperature reaches 103 degrees Fahrenheit. A warning sign that you could be overheating and need to scale back your activity or find a place out of the heat and some hydration.
All prepared to do a post and share the tool with you, I soon realized that a search around the web for this item pulled up very little. An MSNBC.com article published last week shared news from a local news station in Lexington that the I Dot was being used in the Bluegrass Games this year, a non-profit program privately sponsored to promote amateur athletics throughout Kentucky, of which this race was a part of.
A year ago in the central Kentucky area, there was the unfortunate death of a high school football player due to heat illness. This tragic event has brought summer sports training and heat safety to the forefront for both coaches and athletes and this can be extended to those participating in fitness events.
Unfortunately the dots are not available to the public yet. I think this could be a valuable tool for the summer outdoor exerciser, especially those who are prone to heat illness or those in extreme events. However, the article I mentioned above said the dots range from $25 to $35. From what my husband received they didn’t look to be reusable. That is much too expensive for the average race planners of smaller events to provide for each of their participants, but could be something used as a prize or to promote to racers for especially hot events.
Have you seen anything like the I Dot? Do you think it would have value for your charity fitness event?
Update:Good news. The $25 to $35 each quote was a typo in the original article. The article on MSNBC.com has not corrected it, but this local article from WLKY.com has changed the price to 25 to 35 cents each. This makes much more sense. I had a hard time believing they would call $25-35 inexpensive. Thanks, Theresa, for your comment bringing my attention to the change.
Check the story again – they are between .25 and .35 cents each.
Hi Theresa – I have to assume that your price quote is correct. Both my husband and I thought this had to be a typo because of how simple they were. However, this is a direct quote from the MSN article.
“The I-Dot is inexpensive, costing between $25 and $35 per patch. However, it is not yet available to the public.”
Just made my way to the KY article. Glad they made the correction and thanks for bringing it to my attention!