Price: $2.99    Score: 10/10   By A. Papachristos

Flash back to elementary school and you will surely remember, at one point or another, that time your class spent weeks – maybe even months – learning the intricacies of our very own human bodies.  From head to foot, you learned how each part functions and how they work together to keep us alive.

But those lessons were long ago for most, the knowledge a distant memory.  Yet, with Learn Muscles anyone can study and learn the inner workings of the muscular system with this quick and easy app by Real Bodywork.  With 120 muscle images and descriptions, 4 explanatory videos and 16 flashcard style quizzes, Learn Muscles truly lives up to its name.

When you begin, the home screen will show a picture of the human body broken down to display the muscular system.  The body has been broken down into four categories: Face, Arm, Torso and Leg.  The bottom right corner also users to access an ‘Overview’ of the entire system, which allows you to rotate the full-length picture provided and tap on whichever region interests you most.

Back on the home screen, users may also use the magnifying glass icon in the top right corner to view an alphabetized list of all the muscles featured within Learn Muscles.  This allows users to quickly access the muscles they truly need to study.  Choosing a specific region, however, will take users to a list that allows them access video, quizzes and information about every muscle involved in that area.

With a total of 15 minutes of video, Learn Muscles provides a general overview of the various regions reminiscent of the educational videos used in school, but cuts them down into easily digestible chunks that cater to the busy person’s attention span.  These four videos specifically focus on the face, shoulder, hip and back.

For an in depth look at all the muscles of a given region, simply scroll down to the list of muscles.  Each, when tapped on, will display a full color image highlighting the specific muscle and where it is.  Tap info in the top right corner and the image will flip to reveal information about the muscles – its name, action, origin, insertion and comments – in a convenient, outline approach that makes learning each much simpler than trying to extract the information from a book.

Once you’ve studied to capacity, test your knowledge with one of the 16 flashcard style multiple-choice question quizzes.  With 480 randomized questions total, focus on muscle name, action, origin and insertion for any region you desire.  No matter what category you choose, the quiz will begin by displaying an image for two seconds.  It will then flip over to reveal four choices, one of which is correct.  If you wish to see the image once more, simply tap “Flash Again.”  Answer correctly and you will receive one point.  Answer wrong and half a point will be deducted from your grand total.

As Learn Muscles’ App Store description suggests, it truly is a great reference, testing and educational tool for it lays out all the information in a simple manner, providing easy-to-use images to aid in the learning process.  And, whether you’re simply a student just learning the particulars of the muscular system, or you’re looking to teach the topic, Learn Muscles makes the task about learning, not just retaining and regurgitating what is taught.

Learn Muscles requires iPhone OS 3.0 or later and is compatible with iPhone and iPod Touch. A small expedite fee was paid by the developer in order to speed up the publication of this review.

Price: $2.99    Score: 10/10    By Michelle Schusterman

As you can see from the score above, I was pretty impressed with this app. Let me give you the scenario.

I was seated at the freelancer’s office – aka, a café down the street – eyeing the guy seated at the “good table” by the outlet over my latte and trying to decide which assignment to tackle next. I’d been having allergy problems for going on three days and felt pretty exhausted from constantly waking up to blow my nose. Pulling out my iPhone, I saw my next app to review was Hypnokit, by Andrew Parkinson.

I’m not a skeptic about hypnosis and relaxation techniques; in fact, I practice yoga (although not as often as I’d like). But I’ve never bothered to download one of the many relaxation apps floating around out there. I opened Hypnokit and immediately liked its simplicity. After listening to the brief instructions, I looked around and spotted an unoccupied big comfy chair, picked up my stuff, and relocated.

I stuck my earbuds in, tapped on the first of three choices – “Stress Buster” – and closed my eyes.

The recording is great – soothing music accompanied by Hypnotherapist Diana Parkinson’s voice, instructing me to relax myself bit by bit. Maybe it was the organ-like sounds, maybe it was Ms. Parkinson’s British accent (hey, I’m a sucker for accents), but in a few minutes I was slouched over in my chair in the middle of a busy café, nearly asleep (and possibly drooling).

I was aware of Mrs. Parkinson’s voice the entire time. And I wouldn’t go so far as to say I was hypnotized – if someone had approached me, I’m sure I would have responded. But I was very, very relaxed. And at the end of the ten minute session, when Mrs. Parkinson told me she was going to count to ten and I would open my eyes and feel refreshed, she did – and I did.

Honestly, I felt as if I’d taken a decent nap. I was awake and very clear-headed. I checked out the other two sessions – “Peaceful Beach” and “Relaxing Meadow” – and they were very similar in style, but closer to twenty minutes long. Each session gives you the option to play, pause, or stop, and if you pause, Hypnokit will save your place even if you go back to the main menu and choose another session.

No lie – I’m going to try falling asleep to “Relaxing Meadow” tonight. If you’re looking for a quick ten to twenty minute energy boost to listen to on the bus on the way home from work, check Hypnokit out. Just watch the drool, out of courtesy to the guy next to you.

Hypnokit is compatible with the iPhone and iPod Touch.  It requires the iPhone OS 3.1.3 or later.

Price: $5.99    Score: 8/10    By Michelle Schusterman

I’ve been fortunate enough not to have any serious back problems in my life, at least so far. But judging from the personal accounts of a few people close to me, I know that it can be an incredibly painful, complex, and expensive issue to deal with.

Low Back Pain Clinical Management Guidelines is an app intended to help those suffering from lower back pain navigate through all of the possible causes and treatments – no small task, and one that developer Clinically Relevant Technologies has taken seriously.

After reading and accepting a thorough disclaimer, you begin choosing yes or no type questions to navigate through the app’s algorithm. Most steps include extra information or details, such as what you should expect at physical examinations at your particular stage in the process, etc. The app is worded as if speaking to a doctor, supplying advice on how he would approach his patient.

But if you are the patient, I think that makes this app even more valuable – knowing what to expect from your doctor. It also lets you know what kind of strategies and tests to expect when testing for specific problems, including:

• Cancer
• Cauda equina syndrome
• Vertebral fracture
• Infection (i.e. osteomyelitis)
• Spinal stenosis
• Ankylosing spondylitis

As I said, I haven’t experienced back pain myself, and clearly I’m no doctor. However, the information this guideline provides seems solid and highly researched. The format is great and easy to navigate – however, I would like to see a way of saving your current status in the algorithm. Many of the steps you reply to require doctor appointments, follow-ups, and trial therapies, which can take days or weeks to complete. Afterwards you have to start the algorithm over again to include that step.

Low Back Pain contains other useful information, like an acronym legend, other recommendations, and a statistical review. Back pain can range from a simple fix to an incredibly complicated issue, and I’ve seen more than one friend spend months and even years visiting doctors and receiving mixed diagnoses, not to mention wasting a lot of money. It’s a difficult journey to navigate, but this app does a wonderful job acting as a guide.

Low Back Pain Clinical Management Guidelines requires iPhone OS 3.1.2 or later and is compatible with the iPhone and iPod Touch.

Price: FREE    Score: 8/10    By Steve Beaudry

Medical marijuana is legal in four states, so if you find yourself California, Nevada, Oregon or Montana and in need of a bud, Legal Maps by WeedMaps will show you the way.

With Legal Maps you can find the doctors and dispensaries that are closest to your current location using the iPhone’s GPS. It does its job well and cleanly, but the clear disadvantage, which can be expected from any app of its kind, is that it’s limited by the bounds of the law. For example, I happen to live in Florida. In order to fill my prescription, I would have to travel clear across the country for this app to be of any practical use.

Still, there is something to be said for the practicality of such an app for those Americans who are within those bounds. I couldn’t tell you how difficult it is to find these places on your own since I’ve never actually tried, but if you need to get your hands on some medical marijuana, this app will seriously cut down on research time. You can give reviews, find other people who share your enthusiasm and even connect to Facebook through their accompanying website and wave your legal product in front of all your friends across the country.

There’s not much more to say about the app since it really is pretty straight forward. If you have a legal marijuana prescription to either acquire or fill, you can use this app completely free to find the doctors and the shops you need.

Legal Maps requires iPhone OS 3.1.2 or later and is compatible with both iPhone and iPod Touch.

Price: $4.99    Score: 8/10    By Jose Ralat Maldonado

Remember those hearing exams you had to take at the school clinic? Of course you do! How can you forget those annoying, at times painful, rings and beeps? Well, just imagine what individuals with tinnitus (ringing in the ears) have to go through, and consider yourself lucky. Sufferers of tinnitus are regularly subjected to those aural assaults inaudible to you and I. iTinnitus Solutions by Inner Ear Solutions comes to their aid as a supplemental therapy option. For the person engaged in improving his/her health, this app is a welcome addition to a treatment regime.

The interface of iTinnitus Solutions is initially straightforward, with a start-up screen listing the app’s six sections (Introduction, Characterize & Inhibit, Tinnitus Diary, Mask Tinnitus, Habituation and About Us).

The Introduction is in-depth, authored by Robin LeBlanc, MD, FRSCS, a Canadian otolaryngologist (ear, nose and throat doctor), explaining everything you ever wanted to know about tinnitus in an elementary manner. For example, “tinnitus is the result of damage to the cells that deal with hearing in the inner ear.” Common causes for the condition include age, trauma, and viral infection. Treatment options, like watching caffeine/chocolate intake and white-noise machines, are also discussed.

The Characterize & Inhibit section allows the user to scroll through tones for an indefinite amount of time or for a set period (up to 20 minutes). The frequency ranges from 100 Hz to a whopping 10,000 Hz. The adjustable volume setting allows for the identification of the sound best matching the individual tone heard by the sufferer.

During use, the patient can press the Lock button in the top right corner to push the data to a graph or table, the Tinnitus Diary, which can be confusing to the novice with all its dots, lines and numbers. (A common characteristic of medical apps.) But iTinnitus Solutions isn’t meant to replace professional care. Again, it’s supplementary. Use the Send function to forward the plotted information to your doctor, who can use it to improve or customize treatment. He/she can explain the section’s contents in layperson’s terms.

The Mask Tinnitus and Habituation sections are similar, in that both offer white noises like rain, fire and static. The former section allows the user to do just what it claims—disrupt the ringing until it is nullified. When the ringing begins, activate one of the sounds until the tone subsides or becomes manageable. Habituation is an effort to reduce the psychological and behavioral reactions to tinnitus through repeated exposure.

Like all medical apps, iTinnitus Solutions includes a disclaimer. For your own good, please do not replace the advice of, and the treatment by, a physician with the use of iTinnitus Solutions. This is especially true of iTinnitus Solutions, as tinnitus may be the cause of a serious underlying condition, at the most extreme and rare a brain mass.

iTinnitus Solutions is for those interested in supplemental therapy of tinnitus, for those not interested in playing the part of a passive patient at the mercy of an ear, nose and throat doctor. The app allows the user to take control of his/her medical condition. Knowledge is power, after all. This app gives you the power to stop the noise.

iTinnitus Solutions requires the iPhone OS 3.0 or later and is compatible with iPhone and iPod Touch.

Price: $4.99    Score: 10/10    By Michael Essany

If you thought managing a bulky contact list was cumbersome, try medical records. Fortunately, for this reason, there’s e-Val MD, one of the most efficient and comprehensive medical applications presently available.

Billed as the first professional, all-purpose, comprehensive medical history and physical examination tool for the iPhone and iPod Touch, e-Val MD goes above and beyond most web and application-based services because of its unique storage and access components.

It’s almost difficult to fathom how this nifty application works without first experiencing it yourself. It’s simple touch-screen interface provides the portal to a world of important information that has never before been so readily accessible at the tip of one’s finger. e-Val MD allows you to create, access, manage, and export unlimited numbers of patient records using its fully-functional history and physical examination modules.

Because e-Val MD is customized for inputting data while still on patient rounds, an argument could be made that this application will reduce the number of record-keeping errors that often distort or reduce the accuracy of one’s medical files. According to the app’s makers, e-Val MD was designed using the examination standards taught in academia. As a result, physicians, nurses, and a host of medical-related professionals – not to mention patients – will be aided enormously by this impressive application.

Notable features (just to name a few) include:

• Convenient input of 300+ items of comprehensive patient history & physical data, including custom input controls developed specifically for e-Val MD
• Industry-standard categories of CC/HPI/PMH/FH/SH/ROS/PE
• Outline screen also indicates completion status of each category of data for a given patient
• Summation in full text of all inputted H&P data
• Unlimited number of total patient records

e-Val MD is now available for download from iTunes for $4.99

e-Val MD requires iPhone OS 3.0 or later and is compatible with iPhone and iPod Touch.

Price: $4.99    Score: 7/10    By Anna Papachristos

Most of us take our eyesight for granted.  As long as we can see things clearly enough, whether naturally or with glasses and contacts, we rarely consider what it would be like to not see things for what they actually are.  However, for those who are colorblind, what you see may not always be what you get, which is where Color Blind Aid by iDisrupt.com comes in handy.

Designed to help those with red-green blindness, Color Blind Aid works with the camera in your iPhone to display real-time video of your surroundings.  Red objects will flash blue, while green objects will flash yellow as a way to indicate exactly which color you are looking at if colorblind.  Users can adjust the color-detecting sensitivity by using the color-coded sliders at the bottom of the screen.  This becomes useful when adjusting to differeing conditions, such as indoor or outdoor, as they fluctuate in vibrancy.

However, Tony Libby, who came up with the idea to create an app geared toward helping the colorblind, does not know anyone who is actually colorblind.  Libby took his idea and put it out there for the public and sales have been going better than expected, he said, especially internationally.  By getting his product out in the open, he hopes to receive feedback from actual colorblind users in order to improve his product according to their needs.

To help, up-and-coming artist Maxwell Farinato took Color Blind Aid for a test run.  As an artist, being colorblind can sometimes be a bit of a hassle when trying to find the right hue, and as an avid gamer, puzzle games often take the back burner because most require color-matching skills.  Libby’s intentions with Color Blind Aid are meant to help just this, allowing users to differentiate colors while shopping, play video games, or coordinate outfits.

For Farinato, testing out Color Blind Aid resulted in mixed feelings.  For instance, he made the observation that you need really good lighting in order to detect an objects color.

“It seems you need really good lighting or else it will not pick up on anything.  Sometimes, it even flashed specks of blue and yellow on things I knew were distinctly neither red nor green,” Farinato said.

While perusing Wal-mart, Farinato used Color Blind Aid up against a flower arrangement he knew was distinctly shades of red and green, yet no blue or yellow flashed.  However, when carelessly holding it face down toward the floor, yellow flashed despite the white surface.

“I turned up the sensitivity on both blue and yellow the highest it would go just to see if that helped, but instead it only made the colors flicker really quickly and suddenly when it did detect red or green, but it flashed so fast that I wasn’t sure whether blue, yellow or both were flashing,” Farinato continued.

“Despite all this, though, it worked beautifully in direct light.  I tested it on my friend’s red shoes in the sunlight and it flashed blue very clearly.  If it could just be fixed to do this in every case, I think it would be a great thing to have around,” Farinato concluded.

Based on his findings, it seems that Color Blind Aid holds much potential, and with the developer’s openness and willingness to accept feedback, this app surely has room to grow, but he needs users to help make it the best tool it can be.

Have you downloaded Color Blind Aid?  Share your input here or email iDisrupt.com with your comments.

Color Blind Aid requires iPhone OS 3.0 or later and is compatible with the iPhone only.

Price: $1.99    Score: 7/10    By Shaun Campbell

For many people, following their Doctor’s treatment plans and managing medications can be difficult. Even if you don’t suffer from a chronic disease, very few of us have detailed knowledge of our own medical history – information that could be vital in an emergency setting. Developed by GTM, LLC., My Health is an iPhone app that brings all of your important medical data to hand, in one easily accessible place.

My Health is broken down into a number of different subsections that allow you to detail almost every aspect of your physical health. The main subsections include:

• Medicine information
• Chronic conditions
• Lab data
• Radiology
• Procedures/ECG
• Screening tests
• Important contacts (Physician, Emergency)

Tapping on each of these sections allows you to input in the relevant information. For example, in the “My Medicines Chest”, you can enter in all of the details of each drug that you take including: drug name, strength, dose, when taken, reason (for taking), prescribing Dr., as well as a reminder. While helping you to remember what drug to take and when, this information is also essential from a clinicians point of view. Details of medications are extremely important if you ever need to present to the ER or even just to a new Doctor.

You can add information to the other sections of the My Health app in much the same way as described for the medications. In addition to typing in general notes, you can also include images in certain sections of the app, such as radiology, lab data, mammography tracking and procedures/ECG. You have the option of either taking a new image (i.e the test result), or choosing an image from your photo roll.

Given the nature of personal medical information contained in an app like this, there is a password protect feature to guarantee the security of your records. While not strictly necessary, it would be nice to see an update to the My Health user interface in the future, as while easy to navigate, it is rather bland. It would also be good to see the inclusion of an area for storing advanced medical directives and notes on medical legal power of attorney.

The Bottom Line: My Health is an extremely useful app for keeping all of your important medical information secure and easily accessible.

My Health requires iPhone OS 2.2.1 or late and is compatible with the iPhone and iPod Touch.

Price: Free (limited time)    Score: 9/10    By Steve Beaudry

mPassport Paris by HTH Worldwide is one of the more useful apps in the App Store. If you’re on your way to Paris and are concerned about your health, this app will tell you where to find doctors, what medicine is equivalent in France to what you’re taking, and how to translate symptoms you’re having into French. Currently, the mPassport app is only available for Paris, but they also have a subscription-based web interface for the entire world. Presumably, Paris is the first stop in making medical apps for a number of international cities.

When you open the app, you can see right off the bat how useful it’s going to be for your medical needs. Say you have an unusual cough and would like to see a doctor about it. The very first button you see is “Request Appointment,” which takes you to a list of doctor specialties, and then the doctor offices themselves, and then the info such as phone number (which you can tap to call) and address (for which there is a map). It’s really just as easy as that!

Also, if you run out of some medicine there is a drug equivalency guide. With this guide you can scroll to whatever medicine it is you’re missing and find out the French name for it. You can also scroll to French names and find out their English counterpart. I don’t think I really have to tell you how useful this is for someone who doesn’t speak French!

There are also Emergency Service numbers, Hospital locations and Pharmacy locations. This app wins for being that comprehensive in its goal to provide medical information to the Parisian traveler. But there’s even more. Down at the bottom of the home page there is a button labeled Medical Translations, and, for me, this is where the app really shines. There are two choices: either medical phrases or medical terms. If you’re looking for a single word to translate, you want terms, but if you go into phrases you can find a wealth of common phrases relating to medical wellbeing and care along with their written French translation and if you tap on the translation you can hear an attractive female voice speaking the phrase. So, if you have a medical problem, you don’t even have to speak French – just get out you iPhone with mPassport Paris. Although, it does take a minute to find “I need a doctor quickly.”

A Location tab shows you a GPS-enabled map with pins for nearby doctors and pharmacies, a Recents tab shows you what you’ve been looking at recently within the app, and a Saved tab shows you those things which you’ve marked as your favorite. This app gets high marks for usefulness and human welfare, but one drawback keeps it from a full 10 – it’s only useful if you’re going to Paris (and to a lesser extent, France).

mPassport Paris requires iPhone OS 3.0 or later and is compatible with both iPhone and iPod Touch.

Price: $29.99    Score: 7/10    By Michael Essany

They say there’s an app for just about anything these days. But perhaps with the new offering from Biloop Technologies, such a bold statement actually rings true, as one of the most outlandish claims of any app has finally burst onto the digital scene.

The Cry Translator, which is available for download at the somewhat staggering price of $29.99, boasts cutting-edge technology that has been tested in Spain and North America with “impressive results.” Clinical trials indicate that the cry translator application can help “quickly identify” five distinct cries made by infants: hungry, sleepy, annoyed, stressed or bored. Deemed “five cries universal to all babies,” The Cry Translator transcends both cultural and language barriers to allegedly decode a baby’s tears.

But does it work? And can an iPhone application actually analyze the pitch, volume, tone and inflection of a baby’s cries with any degree of accuracy? According to Biloop Technologies, the technology unique to The Cry Translator is both effective and a handy tool for new parents eager to get to the bottom of their infant’s whimpers.

Effectiveness aside, the easy to use application is worthy of merit for its ambitious aims and surprisingly simple but sophisticated functionality. Although The Cry Translator makes no guarantees, it aims to achieve the following:

• Identify a cry within ten seconds.
• Ease the anxiety associated with calming a crying infant.
• Build confidence in understanding and comforting your infant.
• Reduce overall infant crying.

New parents often report eventually learning to decipher between a variety of whimpers employed by their children. So if the human ear can be trained, perhaps technology can be massaged to provide the same insightful analysis. If not, having the app at least provides some reassurance to new parents who occasionally feel the weight of the world on their lonely shoulders when a newborn enters their world.

The Cry Translator v1.1 reviewed. The Cry Translator requires iPhone OS 3.0 or later and is compatible with both iPhone and iPod Touch.