3 research outputs found
A technological review of wearable cueing devices addressing freezing of gait in Parkinson’s disease
Freezing of gait is one of the most debilitating symptoms of Parkinson’s disease and is an
important contributor to falls, leading to it being a major cause of hospitalization and nursing home
admissions. When the management of freezing episodes cannot be achieved through medication or
surgery, non-pharmacological methods such as cueing have received attention in recent years. Novel
cueing systems were developed over the last decade and have been evaluated predominantly in
laboratory settings. However, to provide benefit to people with Parkinson’s and improve their quality
of life, these systems must have the potential to be used at home as a self-administer intervention.
This paper aims to provide a technological review of the literature related to wearable cueing systems
and it focuses on current auditory, visual and somatosensory cueing systems, which may provide
a suitable intervention for use in home-based environments. The paper describes the technical
operation and effectiveness of the different cueing systems in overcoming freezing of gait. The “What
Works Clearinghouse (WWC)” tool was used to assess the quality of each study described. The paper
findings should prove instructive for further researchers looking to enhance the effectiveness of
future cueing systems
Patients’ experiences of using a smartphone application to increase physical activity: the SMART MOVE qualitative study in primary care
Regular physical activity is known to help
prevent and treat numerous non-communicable
diseases. Smartphone applications (apps) have
been shown to increase physical activity in
primary care but little is known regarding the
views of patients using such technology or how
such technology may change behaviour
CAALYX: a new generation of location-based services in healthcare
Recent advances in mobile positioning systems and telecommunications are providing the
technology needed for the development of location-aware tele-care applications. This paper introduces CAALYX – Complete Ambient Assisted Living Experiment, an EU-funded project that aims at increasing older people's autonomy and self-confidence by developing a wearable light device capable of measuring specific vital signs of the elderly, detecting falls and location, and communicating automatically in real-time with his/her care provider in case of an emergency, wherever the older person happens to be, at home or outside