Hand tremors affect millions of people worldwide.
Whether the cause is Parkinson’s disease or other neurological conditions, daily tasks such as eating, drinking, writing and getting dressed can be challenging.
But researchers in the Okanagan have developed a device promising to dramatically reduce the uncontrollable movements.
“It’s very easy to put on, just slide my hand in,” said Jared Borsheim, a first-year engineering graduate student at UBC-Okanagan.
The device is a wearable and lightweight tremor-reducing hand brace.
It was created and developed at the school of engineering lab at UBC-Okanagan.
Unlike existing devices, this one doesn’t rely on batteries, a motor or any other power sources.
Instead, it uses a principle called tuned mass damping, which helps absorb and counteract the involuntary shaking.
“When the tremor moves the hand this way, the magnets work with springs and pull the hand in opposite direction, opposing that motion,” Borsheim explained.
The idea is the brainchild of Dr. Hadi Mohammadi, an engineering professor who says current treatments for tremors often involve medication or surgery, whereas the new brace is non-invasive.
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“You can basically just, you know, take the tremor as a wave, like a mechanical wave and we create another wave,” Mohammadi said. “These two waves would cancel out each other.”
Mohammadi said experimental testing has shown the brace to reduce the tremors by up to 80 per cent.
“Patients suffering from these problems can basically have like a normal life,” Mohammadi said. “And I believe that this technology could … bring for them confidence and independence.”
After several years, the brace is nearing the final stages of development.
“It’s nice to see the fruits of your labour,” said Charis Ondrik, a first-year graduate engineering student. “When you can come up with something conceptually and then test it and see an actual result that would impact real people, it’s very gratifying.”
While more clinical trials have to be done followed by Health Canada approvals, it’s hoped the brace can make its way onto the market and in the hands of consumers in the coming year.
“A lot of these patients need a lot of support from their families and the idea with this is that you could just put it on yourself simply and then just kind of take a little bit more control of how your body works,” Ondrik said.
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