One of the most common symptom’s of Parkinson’s disease is a change in a patient’s walk, which often becomes slow, unsteady and hesitant.
Researchers at Sentara Healthcare and Old Dominion University hope a pair of socks can take advantage of that change to help clinicians better diagnose and medicate Parkinson’s patients.
The socks work something like Fitbit but with more sophistication. It gathers information on gait, acceleration and balance through multiple sensors. That data is held in a small device attached to the sock and can be downloaded to a computer or transmitted to a smartphone or tablet.
The socks, which are in the early stages of testing, were developed by Sensoria, which is based in Redmond, Wash. If they work, they will better sense changes in a patient’s symptoms so doctors can medicate properly.
Dr. Alexander Grunsfeld, medical director of neurosciences at Sentara Healthcare, said knowing how much medicine to prescribe Parkinson’s patients can be difficult because it’s largely based on how well they remember when they last took their medication and how soon after their symptoms worsened.
With the socks, doctors could rely on data rather than memory, Grunsfeld said.
“We’re kind of treating blindly and we see them (patients) once in a while to make a tweak to their medicine,” he said. “It’s like hitting a nail with a sledgehammer.”
Dr. Steve Morrison, professor and director of research for the School of Physical Therapy and Athletic Training at ODU, has a personal tie to the study.
His mother-in-law was diagnosed with Parkinson’s and he’s seen her symptoms slowly grow worse.
“I’ve seen where they drove up the medication. I’ve seen the issues now,” he said. “She’s progressed, unfortunately, to the point where the medication is more of a problem than the symptoms.”
ODU research assistant Rachel Simmons’ grandmother also has Parkinson’s.
“She wants to be a subject in the study,” Simmons said. “She’s like, ‘I want to be the first one.’ ”
The first phase of the study, which is under way, is on college students.
The second phase will be on 60 older, healthy adults as a control group and Parkinson’s patients. They will wear the washable socks for seven days.
“We’ll look at the data they’re producing,” Morrison said. “And then we’ll look at what their activity is, and we’ll work with a neurologist to look at their medication status for Parkinson’s.”
Morrison said the socks might also be used as a tool to help treat other diseases, such as multiple sclerosis and type-2 diabetes, or predict someone’s risk of falling.
Researchers are still looking for volunteers with Parkinson’s for the second phase of the study. Anyone interested in participating can contact Simmons at rsimm009@odu.edu.
https://pilotonline.com/news/local/health/article_bb8c905a-48bd-11e8-bbd3-2fd6c7b08047.html
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