Abstract
Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disorder that is caused by a decrease and lack of dopamine production in the brain. Patients experience inhibited mobility—particularly in their hands, which is where the tremors occur most often. There is a need for a tremor suppressor to improve patients’ quality of life. The research conducted to develop a purely mechanical device to aid in the suppression of the hand tremors, as well as the details regarding the theory, prototyping, and testing will be presented. Other solutions such as electronic devices, brain stimulation and weights are invasive, cumbersome, and can be expensive. The mechanical device offers a noninvasive, affordable solution to the tremors. While other devices are designed to react to the tremors, the current device in development suppresses the tremors, thereby allowing the patient to have full control of movement. It is designed to be adjustable, giving it the ability to suppress over a range of patient tremors, which vary from 4 Hz to 7 Hz.
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Acknowledgements
Special thanks to the Engineering Project Development Fund and Shiley School of Engineering Endowment for funding and making this project possible. Thank you to the team’s advisor Dr. Timothy Doughty for his guidance and support for the project and passion for the research topic. Additionally, thank you to Jared Rees, Jacob Amos, and Christina Chrestos for their assistance in the machine shop and to Allen Hansen for his oversight in the Pilot MakerSpace.
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LeBar, K., Prentice, N., Doughty, T. (2021). Design of Purely Mechanical Device to Aid in the Suppression of Parkinsonian Hand Tremors. In: Notbohm, J., Karanjgaokar, N., Franck, C., DelRio, F.W. (eds) Mechanics of Biological Systems and Materials & Micro-and Nanomechanics & Research Applications. Conference Proceedings of the Society for Experimental Mechanics Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-59765-8_10
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