Omani team turns injury into sports innovation

A football injury in 2023 prompted Mubarak bin Abdullah al Shuaili to look beyond the immediate setback and investigate why injuries occur among athletes. That search eventually led to an idea: a smart wearable that could help monitor electrolyte levels during physical activity.
Al Shuaili is part of To Care, an Omani team developing smart healthcare solutions. Its wearable is designed to monitor sodium levels through sweat, helping athletes and coaches better understand the body’s response to exertion.
“The project began in 2023 after I sustained an injury to the bottom of my foot while playing football. That experience motivated me to research the causes of injuries among players,” al Shuaili said.
What started as a personal experience has grown into a broader ambition to address challenges in sports health.
“Our vision is to help reduce injuries worldwide,” he said.

At the centre of the project is sodium, an essential electrolyte that helps regulate fluid balance, transmit nerve signals and support muscle function. Athletes lose water and electrolytes through sweat, particularly during prolonged or intense exercise.
To Care hopes its device will provide additional information to guide hydration decisions. While muscle cramps can have several causes, the team believes wearable monitoring could help manage some of the challenges associated with strenuous exercise.
The device uses ion-selective sensors that come into contact with sweat on the skin. A sodium-sensitive membrane produces an electrical signal corresponding to the sodium concentration. This signal is amplified and filtered before being transmitted via Bluetooth to an application or monitoring unit, where readings appear and alerts can be generated.
The system also incorporates potassium monitoring, providing another measure of electrolytes relevant to muscle and nerve function.
The goal is to make monitoring practical during sporting activities, when conventional equipment may not be suitable for continuous use.
Al Shuaili said the device had achieved approximately 90 per cent accuracy compared with hospital-based sensors, according to the team’s assessments, and had undergone several trials. Further validation will be important to establish its performance under different conditions.

Developing a wearable that delivers reliable readings during exercise has presented challenges. One difficulty, al Shuaili explained, is accounting for variations in sweat production. The team is also improving how the device’s controller collects data and transfers it to an online platform.
“We are still working on these challenges to bring the product to its final form,” he said.
For To Care, resolving these issues is essential to taking the device beyond controlled testing environments, where movement and changing conditions can affect readings.
Scientific events and exhibitions have helped the team refine its approach. Al Shuaili said visitors had generally responded positively, asking questions that highlighted areas for improvement.
Some initially compared the device with smartwatches from Apple and Huawei. He explained that To Care focuses specifically on electrolyte monitoring, rather than the broader functions offered by consumer smartwatches.
The project has also required members to learn skills ranging from technology and finance to product development. Al Shuaili credited their supportive working environment and shared belief in the idea with helping them move forward.
To Care intends to target professional athletes and sports clubs first. In the longer term, it hopes to reach amateur athletes, runners and people participating in team sports through a simpler, more affordable version.

The team is exploring additional measurements, including blood pressure and haemoglobin levels. These remain under study, al Shuaili stressed, because obtaining reliable measurements during intense activity presents technical challenges.
Another ambition is to use intelligent data analysis to develop personalised alerts based on each athlete’s readings and individual patterns. Such additions will require further development and validation before they can guide health-related decisions.
The next objective is to turn the project into a product that can be manufactured and marketed. To Care plans to expand field testing, obtain the necessary regulatory approvals and establish partnerships with sports clubs and manufacturers.
Its initial focus will be Oman, with ambitions to enter regional markets later.
For al Shuaili, the motivation remains rooted in the experience that started it all. An injury on the football field has become the starting point for an Omani innovation that the team hopes will one day support athletes well beyond the Sultanate.