Cipher Skin Tests BioSleeve on Elite-level Climbers at IFCS 

Smart Compression Sleeve and Digital Mirror App provides real-time visualization to athletes 

DENVER, CO — June 03, 2021 — Cipher Skin, the company translating the physical world into actionable data insights, introduced its cutting-edge technology to the climbing community at the International Federation of Sport Climbing – Climbing World Cup in Salt Lake City on May 28-31, 2021. Cipher Skin’s robust hardware and software solution including the smart compression sleeve, the BioSleeve, along with the Digital Mirror app was used to guide athletes along the fastest, safest path to sustained wellness through real-time visualization of their movement and biometrics as they prepared for the championship. 

The Cipher Skin team worked with top athletes from the U.S. and U.K as they climbed training routes in preparation for the World Cup. The technology evaluated stress, range of motion, and efficiency on the fittest and most decorated climbers in the world. Working with these climbing champions demonstrated how Cipher Skin’s technology can help athletes improve their performance and recovery with better data insights – creating a solution that could ultimately remodel the competitive climbing community. 

“As an athlete, you’re always looking for marginal benefits at this level, so anything I can use to collect data is helpful. Right now, a lot of climbing is very subjective as we have coaches watching the wall, or I spend a lot of time recording myself on video,” said Alex Waterhouse, professional climber for the Great Britain Climbing Team, who placed seventh at the men’s Boulder qualification. “Cipher Skin adds a dimension to that, being able to track what you're doing on the wall in three dimensions. I see a lot of value in Cipher Skin in a few areas: to be able to identify what positions you can get into on the wall and how you tracked over time in training to improve. Cipher Skin gives us the tools to do what we’re doing currently but in a scientific way and it’s the first step in bringing climbing into the digital space.”  

The BioSleeve can be placed on arms and knees to track and visualize real-time motion and biometrics. Athletes can then see the data on the Digital Mirror app in real time, through automated reports. With video conferencing tools in the app, athletes and coaches can also effectively communicate during training, even when they are not physically together.  

“Cipher Skin would be super useful for injury prevention. I’ve had lots of shoulder injuries myself and wearing the BioSleeve I saw straight away my shoulder rotation has gone down in the past month. That measurable result I got from the app is quite useful,” said Rachel Carr, Coach for the Great Britain Climbing Team. “How Cipher Skin can measure motion to the exact degree is definitely something I would use. It’s cool to be able to see decline and ability across a session, or if you’re training too hard or training with the wrong range of movement.”  

“It is no secret that climbing has gained significant traction over the years and is now being added to the 2021 and 2024 Olympics,” said Dr. Shaka Bahadu, COO and co-founder of Cipher Skin. “As competitive climbing is still a relatively new sport, there is untapped potential for analyzing climbing movement, especially as it requires the use of the full body to propel athletes upward. We’re thrilled at the opportunity to be able to quantify and standardize movement in climbing in an effective way that brings a whole new level of data visualization in this sport.” 

 
For more information on Cipher Skin, visit https://cipherskin.com/.  

About Cipher Skin  

Cipher Skin is a data company founded in 2017, built on technology that translates the physical world into actionable insights. Cipher Skin’s patented technology, Cipher Mesh, is a network of sensors that can be printed on any textile and wrapped around anything—a person, a pipe, a bridge. This technology captures gapless data and translates it through proprietary software to provide instantaneous, visualized data and diagnostics. Because of Cipher Skin’s versatility, there are nearly unlimited applications, from physical therapy and training to continuous monitoring in pipeline management. The brainchild of combat veterans, Cipher Skin has also countless military applications. At its core, however, Cipher Skin melds next-gen hardware and software to help make sense of our complex world and how we interact with it.