Body scanning – if you haven’t heard about it yet, you will soon. This relatively new technology has recently started appearing in mainstream America. Scanners like the Triform 3D Body Scanner are now being installed in gyms across the country. First, gym-goers strip down to their underwear, or wear a tight-fitting bodysuit. They then step into a small, darkened room with flashing lights. The flashes that seem like discotheque strobe lights are actually produced by cameras that are taking 80 pictures every 10 seconds.
The pictures are compiled into an accurate representation of every inch of the scanned body. The images can be viewed, manipulated, and evaluated on a computer screen. Scans like this, that cost about $50 each at the gyms where they are being offered, are being used for weight management, body sculpting, and sports conditioning.
Other applications for body scanning are also in the making. Researchers at Cornell University are hard at work using body scans to analyze the relationship between the body and the clothing, in a way that has not been possible before. Body scans can be used to create custom-fitted clothing. Additionally, this type of body scanning can pinpoint postural and structural problems. And, of course, body scanning for medical purposes is becoming more and more sophisticated.
I went through the body scanning process recently and it is a pleasant, painless experience. That is, painless until you see the results. For those of us who are not highly conditioned or as thin and trim as we would like to be, being recorded, measured, analyzed, and tracked in three dimensions can show us a few things we would rather not see. Ideally, the body scanning now available in gyms should be used as a motivation to improve. Other applications for body scanning may also improve our lives in the near future
