Help us design a device for those with Parkinsons

Good day everyone! I'm writing this post on behalf of my design team at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, Canada. To give you an idea of who we are and why we are posting on your forum, here a little bit of background information:

We are all Systems Design Engineering students in our third year at the University of Waterloo. This summer term we are taking a course in design, and part of this course is to design and prototype a device which will assist people whose mental and/or physical faculties have degraded according to a disease, or simply old age. We chose Parkinsons Disease, partly because of my firsthand experience with my grandfather, who had Parkinsons Disease, and also because we know that people often live with the disease for an extended period of time (years to decades).

From reading this forum, it is clear that the condition progresses differently for every person. We are trying to get a good feel for how people experience Parkinsons, so that we can do our best developing a device that will help. We hope that by consulting with the people of this forum, that we can design a device which is truly useful.

We are hoping that we can begin to talk to you by asking a few questions. As we learn more and proceed through the design of the device, I'll post more specific questions.

Those with Parkinsons, and their family, friends and caregivers are welcome to participate in this discussion!

Thanks everyone!

1. How long have you had Parkinsons Disease?

2. How old were you when you were first diagnosed?

3. Are there any symptoms that persist even though you take medication?

4. What symptoms were the most difficult to get accustomed to?

5. What are some activities that have become particularly difficult to do due to Parkinsons?

6. What are some of the activities that you can still do well?

One more thing - if you are not comfortable putting up your responses in this forum, you can email them to me here: [email protected]. Thanks again!

Post Edited (Derek Kraan) : 5/30/2007 7:04:19 AM (GMT-6)

I will e-mail you with more info regarding your questions.  I understand that most new PD cases are diagnosed because of a tremor in the left hand. This has been true of me.  As you know, it is an "at rest" tremor.  As long as there is some stimulation of the nerve in the hand there is generally no tremor.  This means that while I am driving I can slowly tap my fingers with the radio music and there will be no tremor.  If I attempt to simply rest my hand on the steering wheel (this before my current meds) there will be a very rapid tremor.  Simply relaxing and stiffening the fingers without real movement will prevent a tremor.  It doesn't even require any action on my part.  I can be perfectly still while my wife slowly rubs the end of the finger next to the thumb and -no tremor.  It would suggest that some simple device could stimulate the nerve and prevent a tremor.  This would certainly be better than heavy meds and/or brain surgery.  I myself tried simple things such as a band-aid or rubber band around the end of the finger.  This did not work and I hear that others have also tried similar methods with no success.  At this time I am thinking that some apparatus contained in a wristband and like a watch in appearance could somehow stimulate the necessary nerve hopefully without penetration of the arm or hand although such would still be better than brain surgery.  We certainly wish you great success with this project. 

I sent an email and never heard from them.  Did anyone else try to contact this group?

Hello everyone!

I'd like to thank you all for your feedback so far! It's been extremely helpful in our quest to help those with Parkinson's Disease cope.

So after considering all your responses and giving it some hard thought, we've narrowed down our focus to two ideas, both intended to help someone with Parkinson's get up out of a chair.

We got our first idea after hearing from one person who noted that their hand tremors subsided when someone else rubbed their index finger, suggesting that a device which stimulated the right nerve might allow them to defeat their hand tremors altogether. When we spoke to an expert, he mentioned that some research had gone into using vibrations to stimulate muscle contractions. Our first idea is to design a system which would use vibrations on the quad muscles (the ones on the top of your lap) which are used when getting out of chairs. This may or may not work, but we're considering a go at it to see if we can do it.

Our second idea came from an interview we had with a professor who specializes in mobility, and works closely with many people who have Parkinson's Disease. He demonstrated to us how difficult it was for many of you to get up out of chairs by having us sit down, put our feet as far in front of us as we could, hold our arms to our chest, and attempt to get up. We found it nearly impossible, but what he showed us next was that by simply stopping us from falling back into our seats on an unsuccessful attempt, we were able to much more easily stand up. He demonstrated that this also worked for those with Parkinson's who have a hard time standing up. We are envisioning a device which would be simple to use and would help you get up by not allowing you to fall back into your seat. It would work by having a cushion follow you as you get up. It wouldn't push you, but if it sensed any kind of resistance, it would lock and prevent you from falling back, allowing another attempt from a position closer to standing.

Rather than ask a set of specific questions like last time, I'm just inviting general feedback on the ideas presented here. If you think we're totally off the mark, don't be afraid to tell us - but likewise, if you think what we're envisioning could work and be helpful to you, then we'd also like to know. If you've got comments on how you think the device could be implemented better or improved, then we're interested in hearing them!

Thanks again everyone for reading my posts and taking the time to comment. We really appreciate all the help you've given us, and we are hoping beyond hope that we can design something which would be useful to you in your everyday lives.

hello Derek , i read with interest your idea for getting out of a chair , i tried , but unsuccessful. i sat on a dining chair ,legs out as far as they would go and hands on my chest.Absolutely impossible to get up . brought feet back a little and tried again,no again,kept bringing feet back until they were against the chair but still cant get up. So i tried from an armchair still the answer is no.I must say my worst part of my pd is my legs, they keep letting me down so i suppose that is the reason why your idea dos'nt work for me .But keep bringing your ideas forward , i will try anything that might help. Grace.