It’s not been a great week for the shaking palsy – under attack from several fronts – and that’s a good thing.
First we saw the amazing story of Emma Lawton on BBC’s new show Big Life Fix. Her link to the story on Facebook has received over 35 million (yes million) views! That’s a lot of people who now know a little more about YOPD. I knew this was big when my son, not known for being an internet regular, and who lives in Los Angeles, told me he’d seen the story! The story involved a wearable “watch” that vibrates to confuse the brain sending tremor signals to the hand. This enables Emma to write her own name legibly and draw a straight line, things she could not accomplish before because of her tremor.
The tremors were under attack again later in the week with the story about doctors fixing a man’s tremors using pioneering sound wave therapy deep within his brain. This happening at St. Mary’s hospital in London. All in all, good news for us PwPs and all happening in our home town of London! Link here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-38157770
This is all part of an exciting trend of using technology to provide better solutions for living with Parkinson’s. Another example is the use of wearable technology such as FitBit or other watches that can monitor sleep patterns, heartbeat and so on. And then there’s smartphone apps such as Beats Medical that provide metronome therapy useful for helping reduce episodes of freezing of gait (FOG), improving stride length, and improving overall mobility.
And embedded in this blog – perhaps some good ideas for Christmas presents for the techno savvy PwP!
Wishing you all season’s greetings!
Brian
