4.6 Article

Design and Preliminary Performance Assessment of a Wearable Tremor Suppression Glove

Journal

IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING
Volume 68, Issue 9, Pages 2846-2857

Publisher

IEEE-INST ELECTRICAL ELECTRONICS ENGINEERS INC
DOI: 10.1109/TBME.2021.3080622

Keywords

Wrist; Pulleys; Thumb; Force; Indexes; Steel; Solid modeling; Biomedical engineering; biomedical device; wearable tremor suppression glove; Parkinson's disease; tremor suppression; hand tremor; assistive device

Funding

  1. Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) of Canada [RGPIN-2014-03815]
  2. Canadian Foundation for Innovation (CFI)
  3. Ontario Research Fund (ORF)
  4. Ontario Ministry of Economic Development, Trade and Employment
  5. Ontario Ministry of Research and Innovation
  6. Peter C. Maurice Research Fellowship in Biomedical Engineering
  7. Transdisciplinary Bone & Joint Training Award from the Collaborative Training Program in Musculoskeletal Health Research (CMHR) at Western University

Ask authors/readers for more resources

The study aimed to design a wearable tremor suppression glove that can suppress tremor simultaneously, but independently, in multiple hand joints without restricting the user's voluntary motion. The experimental evaluation showed promising results in tremor suppression, demonstrating the feasibility of using the device for managing hand and finger tremor in individuals living with Parkinson's disease.
Objective: Approximately 25% of individualsliving with parkinsonian tremor do not respond to traditional treatments. Wearable tremor suppression devices (WTSD) provide an alternative approach, however, tremor in the fingers has not been given as much attention as tremor in the elbow and the wrist. Therefore, the objective of this study is to design a wearable tremor suppression glove that can suppress tremor simultaneously, but independently, in multiple hand joints without restricting the user's voluntary motion. Methods: A WTSD was designed for managing tremor in the index finger metacarpophalangeal (MCP) joint, thumb MCP joint, and the wrist. The prototype was tested and assessed on a participant living with parkinsonian tremor. Results: The experimental evaluation showed an overall suppression of 73.1%, 80.7%, and 85.5% in resting tremor, 70.2%, 79.5%, and 81% in postural tremor, and 60.0%, 58.7%, and 65.0% in kinetic tremor in the index finger MCP joint, the thumb MCP joint, and the wrist, respectively. Conclusion: This first assessment of a WTSD for people living with Parkinson's disease provides confirmation of the feasibility of the approach. The next step requires a comprehensive validation on a broader population in order to evaluate the performance of the WTSD. Significance: This study demonstrates the feasibility of using a WTSD to manage hand and finger tremor. The device enriches the field of upper-limb tremor management, as the first WTSD for multiple joints of the hand.

Authors

I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.

Reviews

Primary Rating

4.6
Not enough ratings

Secondary Ratings

Novelty
-
Significance
-
Scientific rigor
-
Rate this paper

Recommended

No Data Available
No Data Available