Top 10 Health and Fitness iPad Apps Martha Garcia - VOXXI
go to original August 24, 2012

Recent Apple Inc. sales data estimates that they have sold nearly 84 million iPads since the device was first debuted in 2010. Excitement concerning the iPad has reached new levels with the addition of retina display and more than 15 billion iPad apps were downloaded last year alone.

With more than half a million iPad apps on the market today, health and fitness could not be left out of this successful equation.

Here are the top ten iPad apps on the market now and how they are shaking things up.

ehealth made easy

We’ve all done it at some point in our lives. We had a cough or maybe a weird pain somewhere. So we turn to the web for answers; now, instead, turn to your iPad.

iTriage is a comprehensive symptom checker, providing facts about diseases and ailments. It offers contact information for doctors, hospitals and nurse advice hotlines. The app lets you check the average wait time for some ERs and urgent care centers and even check-in to some facilities, right from your iPad. (Free)

Have you ever wondered if you are prone to diabetes or heart disease? Zuum, an app developed by disease prevention experts at the Washington University in St. Louis, eliminate the guessing by estimating your risk of common diseases. Take a short questionnaire about certain factors, like smoking and exercise, and voila! Zuum lists the diseases you may be prone to, contributing factors and provides steps to take to lower your risk. An app should never replace a doctor’s visit, but may prompt a visit to the doctor. (Free)

What about fitness and nutrition?

Fitness and nutrition remain at the forefront of concerns for patients and these three iPad apps help make it easier.

My Fitness Pal is a calorie counter and diet tracker. It allows users to track the food they eat with a database of more than 1.2 million foods, including fast food restaurants and includes a barcode scanner to easily find facts about packaged foods. My Fitness Pal also acts as a workout diary to log exercise and track your weight goals. (Free)

Ever thought about running a marathon and realize you have no idea where to start. Couch to 26.2 is an app created by a certified personal trainer that preps users to run a marathon. It provides a 26 week plan, optimizing for conditioning and calorie burn, offers do’s and don’ts of marathon running, advice for finding the right shoe, optimal eating advice and provides weekly inspiration. ($1.99)

MyWOD is an all-in-one workout log for cross fit. It has more than 100 preloaded WODs, the option to create your own workout, social media interface and a built-in heart rate monitor. ($1.99)

iMuscle is an interactive 3D app that shows users an animated human body. Users simply touch a muscle and then this app lists exercises to strengthen that muscle, with video demonstrations. With a 360 degree rotating option, ability to create your own workouts and a multi-user support system for fitness instructors, iMuscle might just have it all. ($1.99)

Track3 was designed as a diabetes planner and carb counter. It lets users log meals, provides detailed information about sugar and carbs, logs insulin and tracks glucose levels; all which can be emailed directly to your doctor. ($5.99)

Menu Planner turns eating prep into a no fuss task. Users can create meal plans for the entire month, import recipes from their favorite sites, create their own recipes, track what’s in the pantry and create shopping lists. ($2.99)

Eat-and-Move-o-Matic is a fun app that allows children to see how many calories are in their favorite foods and compares it with how much time it will take to burn it off. Kids can see it will take them three hours bicycling to burn off the bag of chips and soda they ate earlier. The hope, the game format will help empower kids to make better eating choices. (Free)

Rx iPad

Patients aren’t the only ones jumping on the iPad app band wagon for health related concerns. According to the iPad project of the University of Chicago published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, patients who were treated by doctors using iPads were offered treatments faster than those who were cared for by doctors not equipped with iPads. Using iPads instead of computers, allowed doctors to offer more patient face time and less administrative time updating files.

iPad apps don’t only aim to inform and educate the patient; but also make helping patients easier. Medscape, developed by WebMD, is the leading medical resource for doctors, medical students and healthcare professionals. It offers a drug reference section with an interaction checker, including herbal medications, and provides how-to’s for certain medical procedures. (Free)

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