A team of researchers at King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital, Thailand, has developed advanced gloves that can automatically reduce tremors in Parkinson’s Disease (PD) patients.
Usually, patients with PD will have tremors, slowness, and stiffness as the noticeable symptoms, especially hand tremors are found in 70% of patients.
Currently, the disease is being treated using a combination of different medications, which is ineffective in reducing tremors completely.
The team of researchers at the Faculty of Medicine, Chulalongkorn University, researched and developed the prototype, dubbed Tremor-reducing Parkinson’s gloves, in 2014.
The team was led by professor Roongroj Bhidayasiri and assistant professor Onanong Phokaewvarangkul
In 2017, the new gloves for PD patients were granted a patent as a portable tremor measuring and reducing device using electrical muscle stimulation.
The team has now developed the fifth-generation tremor-reducing Parkinson’s gloves which are lightweight, easy to wear, and more affordable than the similar imported device.
Onanong said: “The tremor-reducing Parkinson’s gloves are the first medical device that can help reduce tremors in the hands of PD patients through automatic electric stimulation of the hand muscles without having to increase their medication and reduce the risk of brain surgery.
“Consisting of three main components: a glove with the muscle stimulator installed, a control panel, and a mobile phone with an application to control the device and store the tremors and stimulation for analysis, the Parkinson’s gloves work via Bluetooth connection.”
