Using innovative technology similar to that used for the more widely known Parkinson’s spoon, GYENNO Technologies, a Chinese firm, has developed new Gait Aid Equipment to help the 60% of later-stage Parkinson’s patients who experience “gait freeze” and are at risk for falls. The system’s smart sensors detect when the problem may occur and provide audio, […]
Tag: Rehab
Highly Compliant, Ultra Sensitive Electronic Skin to Give Prostheses a Sense of Touch
Scientists at Stanford University have created a way to produce thin, stretchable electronic circuits that feature incredibly sensitive pressure sensors. These electronics can one day be wrapped around prosthetic hands to provide a sense of touch or to create wearable electronics for long term body sensing, among many other possible applications. The team’s devices are […]
Stick-On Flexible Electronics to Track Stroke Recovery
Electronics that keep working even when repeatedly stretched and flexed have improved significantly in the last few years to the point that now they’re finally being introduced into real wearable medical devices. At Northwestern University, John Rogers, the scientist responsible for many achievements in the field of flexible electronics (see flashbacks below), has developed new […]
On-Skin Flexible Screen for Displaying Live Health Information
Scientists at the University of Tokyo have developed an elastic display that can be affixed to the skin to display the waveform of an electrocardiogram, or other health parameters, detected by a skin sensor. When combined with a communication module, the system can transmit the data to a smartphone and the cloud, allowing doctors to […]
BewellConnect’s MyPeriTens Multi-Action Pelvic Floor Trainer
BewellConnect recently unveiled their new pelvic floor muscle trainer to help women with related issues, including post-partum complications and incontinence. The MyPeriTens device is both an electrical nerve stimulator and electrical muscle stimulator that is controlled through a smartphone app, allowing women to have precise control over the intensity and nature of the electrical signals […]
Liftware’s Smart Utensils Cancel Out Hand Tremors and More (Interview)
For most people, meal time is something to look forward to. But for the millions of people with hand tremors and irregular hand movements caused by Parkinson’s disease, essential tremor, spinal cord injuries, or just old age, using utensils can turn an enjoyable meal into a frustrating experience. Liftware hopes to resolve that frustration. The […]
Halo Neuroscience’s Headset Zaps Your Brain To Train It
While it is just a couple of milliamps of positive electric current (about what a 9-volt battery produces), as an engineer who has had to worry about maximum electrical current tolerances for creating safe medical devices, I admit that the thought of zapping my brain using a headset initially made me feel uneasy. However, after […]
KineQuantum Uses Virtual Reality for Real Physical Rehabilitation
Physical rehabilitation can be tedious and boring, and evaluation of a patient’s progress fraught by poor metrics and subjectivity. At the recent CES 2018 in Las Vegas we discovered a new virtual reality-based evaluation, rehab, and follow-up platform that makes it fun and convenient to assess patients, administer various game-based training regimens, and to assess […]
GYENNO Gait Aid Helps Avoid Gait Freeze in Parkinson’s Patients
GYENNO, a Chinese company that develops technologies to help people with Parkinson’s and other movement disorders, was showing off its Gait Aid Equipment package at the recent CES 2018 conference in Las Vegas. The company believes that Gait Aid, which consists of a number of devices that work together to influence how people walk, will help […]
Ultrathin Needle for Delivering Drugs to Specific Brain Regions
Researchers at MIT have developed a miniaturized cannula that employs a needle as thin as a human hair to directly deliver drugs to highly specific brain regions, even as small as one cubic millimeter. This direct dosing approach could allow doctors to target specific brain circuits, potentially helping to reduce side-effects in the rest of […]
Brain-Computer Interface Lets Users Learn to Move Cursor in Seconds
Brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) allow severely disabled people to control wheelchairs, robotic arms, and of course computers. While much progress has been achieved toward improving the accuracy and precision of these devices, they have required long periods of tedious training for users to get acquainted with the technology. The computer has to be taught to understand each […]
RAPAEL, a Futuristic Pegboard, Turns Boring Rehab Into a Game
At CES 2018 in Las Vegas, NEOFECT, a South Korean firm, was showing off its RAPAEL Smart Pegboard, a new take on a simple rehab device. Pegboards are commonly used in rehabilitation settings to practice hand dexterity, as well as to assess an individual’s state and progress. They’re particularly useful for those recovering from a stroke, […]
Medgadget’s Best of CES 2018
CES 2018 is over. We assessed the many health-related gadgets that were shown off by a myriad of companies, concluded our deliberations, and now is the time to present the winners of Medgadget’s Best of CES 2018. We extend our congratulations to the winners! SmartSleep from Philips Here’s an exciting device with a huge potential to […]
Woman Using Powered Prosthetic With Sense of Touch in Everyday Life
Almerina Mascarello is an Italian woman who is the first person in the world that is using a powered prosthetic hand with a sense of touch for every day tasks. Overall, the technology is a few years old, but many of the components, including power and processing, had to be miniaturized before it was practical […]
Robotic Pelvic Assist Device Helps Parkinson’s Patients Improve Their Stability While Walking
Researchers at Columbia University have developed a system called the Tethered Pelvic Assist Device (TPAD), which can help Parkinson’s patients to improve their gait stability after just one training session. Fall rates in adults with advanced Parkinson’s disease are twice as high as those in healthy adults of a comparable age. Finding strategies to reduce […]
Penclic R3 Wireless Mouse: A Medgadget Review
Earlier this year we reviewed one of the most innovative computer mice we’ve ever encountered, the Penclic R2, that was designed to prevent the onset of carpal tunnel syndrome. Your typical boring old mouse puts your forearm into a pronated position, but the Penclic is used like a pen and avoids the most common cause […]
Prosthetic Hand With Five Individually Controlled Fingers Lets Amputee Play Piano
Most powered hand prostheses measure the electrical signals (electromyography) produced by muscles near the stump to detect when the user wants to activate the opening or closing of the fingers. While this has worked marginally well so far, this technology doesn’t have the resolution for intuitive individual finger control. Now researchers at Georgia Tech have […]
Prosthetic Hand With Five Individually Controlled Fingers Lets Amputee Play Piano
Most powered hand prostheses measure the electrical signals (electromyography) produced by muscles near the stump to detect when the user wants to activate the opening or closing of the fingers. While this has worked marginally well so far, this technology doesn’t have the resolution for intuitive individual finger control. Now researchers at Georgia Tech have […]
Cheap Rehab System Powered by Kinect Camera
Physical rehabilitation often involves using expensive, over-engineered equipment that does its job well but is often difficult to afford. It’s one reason the overall cost of rehab can be steep, as buying and maintaining pricey equipment can quickly add up. Some of the more advanced systems for analyzing people’s motion involve multiple cameras that track […]
Samsung Develops App to Allow Color Blind Owners to Enjoy Their New TVs
New TVs were once again one of the bestsellers during the Black Friday sales. But an estimated eight percent of people who might have purchased a new TV this week can’t fully enjoy its vibrant 4K Ultra HD, HDR, OLED, melt-your-eyeballs glory because of color blindness. However, if you purchased a Samsung TV, you may […]