IHRSA 2019 – Medical BIA from seca sets new standards in medical fitness industry

The number of medical fitness centers in the USA is rising, according to the Medical Fitness Association, which reports membership growth of four percent. "Medical fitness is the newest trend in the challenging sport and fitness business," said Duane Jones, Director of National Sales at seca and a certified CrossFit Trainer. "Our healthcare system is moving from a reactive model focused on illness to a proactive system that encourages a healthy lifestyle and preventive measures. Just last summer even CrossFit – with the country’s largest collection of 15,000 fitness facilities – announced an initiative to put the focus on fitness for health."

Growing demands on fitness studiosTrainers in medical fitness clubs are becoming involved in preventive healthcare, collaborating with doctors and health insurers and must raise the medical level of training and monitoring methods. As health care providers with medically integrated and results-driven programs, they can distinguish their clubs from the competition. In certified medical fitness clubs in particular the need is growing for equipment at a medically recognized level and systems that make training progress and consultation success measurable for doctors and insurers. Jones said, "seca has been the leading expert for 179 years in the field of patient measurement. Fitness partners can profit from both the medically validated precision of our systems and our body composition know-how, which in many ways exceeds the current level in this industry."

BIA parameters at gold standard level is the USP in competitive fitness marketThe seca mBCA delivers highly precise evidence of training and nutrition success. In just 17 seconds it measures muscle mass, fat mass, extracellular water, intracellular water and phase angle and stores the data in the software for use in follow-up measurements. The precision of the BIA parameters has been validated for different ethnicities in a multi-centric study ². Jones said," Fitness experts can profit from this precision in that they can offer their customers integrated training based on the latest sports medicine research and can communicate more knowledgeably with doctors and insurers. Many of our partners offer mBCA measurements together with new training, nutrition and wellness concepts. The combination of medical standards, personalized customer experience and new business models turns into a business booster for them."

Athletes benefit from information about body compositionWith the detailed analysis of body composition from the seca mBCA, trainers can determine exactly the fitness status of a member along with the quality of a training and nutrition program and subsequently monitor his or her progress. From the segmental analysis of muscles in arms, legs and torso, findings on the levels of body water, fat, muscle masses and phase angle, it is possible to manage more closely training programs and nutrition plans and to identify inefficient training.

¹ seca is the world's only manufacturer that has published studies regarding its validation against whole-body MRI, NaBr dilution and 4C methods in peer-reviewed journals. https://science.seca.com/studies-white-papers

² Bosy-Westphal A, Schautz B, Later W. Kehayias JJ, Gallagher D. What makes a BIA equation unique? Validity of eight-electrode multifrequency BIA to estimate body Composition in a healthy adult population. Eur J Clin Nutr 2013; 67: 14-21; doi:10.1038/ejcn.2012.160

Bosy-Westphal A, Jensen B, Braun W, Pourhassan M, Gallagher D, Müller MJ. Quantification of whole-body and segmental skeletal muscle mass using phase-sensitive 8-electrode medical bioelectrical impedance devices. Eur J Clin Nutr. 2017 Mar 22. doi: 10.1038/ejcn.2017.27.

Drew Miller, Director Courthouse Fitness

“We chose to replace the BOD POD at five of our club locations. In doing so we knew that we were going to be able to offer our members a service that would ultimately provide the highest accuracy and repeatable results. Precision is everything to us. Members trust us to deliver on accuracy, therefore it’s vital that we are using a device that is validated to the gold standard. All in all, the seca mBCA helps communicate how serious we are in our desire to deliver real results for our members, while differentiating ourselves from other health clubs.”

Tracey and Thom Downing, Owners of FiT

“The seca mBCA provides an efficient, non-invasive method to accurately measure body composition.  As a results focused training facility, we had previously relied upon calipers which can have a great deal of variability or hydrostatic and DEXA scans which are not as easily accessed.  Often times, clients are initially adding muscle mass without reducing body fat.  This is to be expected but can be frustrating to see weight on a traditional scale increasing.  Having a tool that enables us to track not only total body weight but body composition, segmental body fat and hydration; has helped us validate client’s efforts aiding them in maintaining/increasing motivation, adherence and effort.

Case study 1 – Bodybuilder → Follow this Link.
Case study 2 – Marathon runner → Follow this Link.
Case study 3 – Rehab/football player: → Follow this Link.

Learn more about seca medical wellness at https://seca.com/med-fit.


Press Contactseca gmbh & co. kg
Anika Otto; Communications Manager
E-Mail: anika.otto@seca.com
Tel.: +49 40 20 00 00 411
www.seca.com

seca – precision for healthSince 1840 seca has perfected the skill of developing innovative weighing technology combined with practical functions and has become the world's market leader in medical measuring and weighing. seca measuring systems and scales are sold by 16 branch offices and exported to 110 countries. The seca service network guarantees continuous maintenance of the precision instruments. To provide doctors and medical personnel with professional support, seca maintains close contact to users and tailors innovative products to the exact needs of their medical applications. Examples include networked measuring stations that communicate with each other, service and software systems that simplify medical routines and the medical Body Composition Analyzer (mBCA) which uses Bioelectrical Impedance Measurement (BIA) to revolutionize diagnostics and treatment. Ultra-modern production technology, durable materials and a worldwide quality management system ensure top-level product standards.