Freezing of gait is a debilitating symptom that occurs in 20-60% of people living with Parkinson’s Disease, therefore affecting over 2 million people worldwide. It presents as having the feeling of being ‘glued to the floor’ and emerges in several daily situations such as gait initiation (starting to walk), turning, going through narrow passages or approaching a destination such as a chair.
Previous research has shown that people with Parkinson’s Disease benefit from cueing to overcome freezing of gait. In collaboration with an international consortium of universities and companies, we aim to develop a novel, invisible and durable machine-learning-based cueing device that exploits foot sole vibrations to overcome freezing of gait. This system will be supplemented with a smartphone application to monitor the effectiveness of the system.
The beneficial effect of cueing to overcome freezing of gait in people with Parkinson’s Disease has received increasing attention. Many cueing devices are visible to the outside world, which prevents some people with Parkinson’s Disease from using the device. More recently, invisible cueing devices using vibrations of the foot soles as cues to overcome freezing of gait have been developed.
In this research project, we evaluate the feasibility, acceptability, usability and functionality of the vibratory cueing devices and an accompanying smartphone application in a collaboration between people with Parkinson’s Disease, companies developing the devices (FeelSpace and Sherpa) and research institutes from the Netherlands and Germany.
Currently, a prototype is available and in the next years, our goal is to improve the prototype through extensive research and hence, to increase the usability and functionality of the devices for use in daily life. As such, we aim to enhance the readiness of the devices for the market and ultimately increase the daily function and quality of life of people with Parkinson’s Disease through enhanced mobility via the use of the Parkinson Vibrating Socks.
The lead partner of this project is the University of Münster. The UMCG is a partner in this project in a work package evaluating the feasibility, acceptability, usability and functionality of the cueing device and accompanying smartphone application.
In this project, we work together with the partners University of Münster (Germany), University of Twente as well as the companies FeelSpace and Sherpa that develop the vibrating socks and smartphone application, respectively. In addition, Medisch Spectrum Twente, IHP Dresden, Radboud University, Radboud University Medical Center and the German and Dutch Parkinson Networks (Parkinsonnetz Münsterland+ and ParkinsonNet) are involved in the project as associated partners.
