Chronic pain affects 100 million Americans and is the most common cause of long-term disability. Long-term use of pain medications has significant risks, and chronic pain is a major contributor to opioid overuse. NeuroMetrix hopes to offer effective, non-medication solutions for chronic pain. The Waltham, MA-based company has developed the Que (Read more...)
Tag: Rehab
The Pacey Cuff Urethral Control Device: Interview with CEO and a Practicing Urologist
Pacey Medtech, based in Vancouver, Canada, has developed the Pacey Cuff, a urethral control device for urinary incontinence in men, post-prostate cancer treatment. Treating prostate cancer can sometimes lead to urinary incontinence, which can have significant consequences for patient confidence and comfort. The psychological impact of incontinence (Read more...)
Researchers Use Novel Machine Learning Strategy to Accelerate Brain-Computer Interface Training
Brain-computer interfaces are typically systems which measure neural activity and convert it into artificial output. These systems have shown great potential for assisted movement in patients with motor impairments. The interfaces typically work by directing the patient to think about making a movement and allowing the system to repeatedly record t (Read more...)
Mechanical Devices Without Any Electronics Self-Report Usage to The Internet
Mechanical devices, particularly 3D printed ones, don’t have much room for electronics and so they remain “dumb” in many ways. Electronics need a power source and integrating them within moving components that are already complex can create greater difficulties. Engineers at the University of Washington have now developed a simple (Read more...)
Biodegradable Implant Stimulates Injured Nerves to Speed Up Healing
Scientists at Washington University School of Medicine and Northwestern University created an implant to deliver electric impulses to damaged nerves, helping to heal them, and that eventually biodegrades and leaves the body. It’s about the size of a U.S. quarter coin and operates for about two weeks before losing power and breaking up into mi (Read more...)
Ohio State Studying Medical Aspects of Video Games in New Esports Program
At Ohio State University there’s a new program to study various aspects of esports (competitive playing of video games), including medically related issues such as fatigue, long-term problems for players, and how the brain and muscles work together to achieve incredible feats of coordination. The Sports Medicine Movement Analysis and Performa (Read more...)
Feed.fm Brings Music to Mobile Health with Launch of Health.fm: Interview with CEO Jeff Yasuda
Studies have shown that listening to music can have clinically-beneficial side effects from lowering cortisol hormone levels that cause stress and anxiety to correlating highly with verbal memory improvement in stroke patients when compared to patients not listening to music. Seeking to leverage its existing music expertise and enter the mobile hea (Read more...)
Vagus Nerve Stimulator Doubles Movement Recovery in Stroke Patients
Researchers at the University of Texas at Dallas have developed and helped to commercialize a vagus nerve stimulator therapy, which significantly enhanced movement recovery in stroke patients undergoing rehab in a recent study. The device, called the Vivistim, is currently being tested and developed by a UT Dallas spinoff company called MicroTransp (Read more...)
Paraplegic Man Walks Again Thanks to Implanted Spinal Cord Stimulator
A man completely paralyzed below the thoracic vertebrae in the middle of his back, which he injured in a snowmobile accident a few years ago, is now able to walk again. This was made possible thanks to researchers at Mayo Clinic and UCLA who implanted a spinal cord neurostimulator below the injury and helped the man […]
(Read more...)Spray-On Electronic Skin as Tactile Sensor for Prostheses
Prosthetic arms and legs of the future will have tactile sensitivity as a feature, but a lot of work still has to be done to get there. A couple issues that have proven to be engineering challenges is how to cover complex 3D surfaces, such as the hand, with sensors and how to make those […]
Vuzix Smart Glasses and Genzõ App Provide Live Life Experiences for Low-Mobility Patients
Vuzix, a New York-based supplier of smart glasses and augmented reality solutions, has partnered with 1Minuut Innovation, a Dutch healthcare innovation company, to provide a real-time life experience solution for low-mobility patients. The system consists of the Vuzix M300 smart glasses and the 1Minuut Genzõ app, and it allows patients who a (Read more...)
Spinal Cord Epidural Stimulation Lets Paralyzed Walk Again
While paralysis is common following a serious spinal injury, it seems that many patients may be treated with a new therapy that has already proven to restore walking and standing in a few study volunteers. Researchers at University of Louisville in Kentucky, reporting in New England Journal of Medicine, combined spinal cord epidural stimulatio (Read more...)
Body Sensors and Brain Simulator to Estimate Effects of Head Injuries
Injuries to the brain are hard to assess, particularly just after a traumatic event. Various imaging techniques can help to assess how the brain has been impacted, but they are still not very good in many cases, leaving physicians with not enough data to form confident diagnoses. Researchers at Penn State are working on a […]
EverSleep Wearable Sleep Tracker: Product Review and Interview with CEO
Readers might recall the 2017 Indiegogo campaign by SomnoHealth to create EverSleep, a wearable sleep tracker with built-in oxygenation monitoring. The campaign reached 224% of its original goal in addition to receiving a $50k Arrow Electronics Flash Funding Grant and recognition as a 2017 National Sleep Foundation SleepTech 2017 Semifinalist. Toda (Read more...)
Wheelchair Cushion with Smart Capabilities Avoids Pressure Ulcers
Engineers at the University of Texas at Arlington have developed a new seat cushion for wheelchairs that works in an intelligent way to prevent the development of pressure ulcers. Decubitus ulcers come about when the same part of the body experiences applied pressure for long periods of time. There are cushions and mattresses made of […]
Talking Through Skin May Help Disabled People Communicate
Many disabilities create communication limitations for patients and many of these limitations still have poor technological solutions. A new method of sending messages to people, neither through text nor speech, has been developed in a collaboration between Purdue University, MIT, and Facebook. Their prototype device is a wrist pad that has a serie (Read more...)
ZEEQ, World’s “Smartest Pillow”: A Medgadget Review
We spend around one-third of our life sleeping, and as we all know, the quality of our sleep directly affects how we feel and function the following day. Those of us looking for a better night’s sleep often start by searching for a “better” pillow, but what does that mean? We have all heard companies […]
Withings Releases Tough Smartwatch with Advanced Fitness Tracking
Withings, the French company that sold itself to Nokia and then rescued itself back as an independent firm, has just put out its first product since the corporate separation. The new Withings Steel HR Sport watch looks much like a classic mechanical or quartz watch, but which is actually packed with multiple sensors and digital […]
dayzz, An Evidence-Based, Personalized Sleep Training App for Employers, Interview with CEO Amir Inditzky
In addition to fatigue, high blood pressure, and weight gain experienced by individuals with chronically poor sleep, productivity and performance in the workplace are also known to suffer. Sleep deprivation, for example, can cost employers up to six lost working days and $2,762 in financial impact annually per employee. Today, the American Academy (Read more...)
Oticon Opn Hearing Aids Now Help Assess Hearing Health
Oticon, one of the big names in hearing aid products, is releasing a tool that helps people using hearing aids to learn more about their hearing health and to better understand how these devices are impacting their lives. The technology is available on the Oticon Opn hearing aids, including for patients that have already been […]