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Finding Parameters around the Abdomen for a Vibrotactile System: Healthy and Patients with Parkinson’s Disease

  • Systems-Level Quality Improvement
  • Published:
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Abstract

Freezing of Gait (FOG) is one of the most disabling gait disorders in Parkinson’s Disease (PD), for which the efficacy of the medication is reduced, highlighting the use of non-pharmacological solutions. In particular, patients present less difficulties in overcoming FOG when using feedback and especially with Biofeedback Systems. In this study it is intended to detect the frequency threshold and the minimum interval of perception of the vibrotactile feedback, through a proposed wearable system, a waistband. Experimental tests were carried out that considered a temporal, spatial and spatiotemporal context, for which 15 healthy and 15 PD patients participated. It was detected as threshold frequency 180 Hz and for minimum interval of vibration perception 250 ms. The identification of this threshold frequency and this interval will allow us to select the frequency and the minimum interval of vibration to be used in a Vibrotactile Biofeedback Device for patients with PD, in order to help them to overcome FOG.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the FCT – Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia - with the reference project UID/EEA/04436/2013, by FEDER funds through the COMPETE 2020 – Programa Operacional Competitividade e Internacionalização (POCI) - with the reference project POCI-01-0145-FEDER-006941.

Funding

This study was not funded.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Microelectromechanical Systems (CMEMS), Guimarães, Portugal

    Helena Gonçalves, Rui Moreira & Cristina Santos

  2. Neurology, Hospital of Braga, Braga, Portugal

    Ana Rodrigues

Authors
  1. Helena Gonçalves
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  2. Rui Moreira
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  3. Ana Rodrigues
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  4. Cristina Santos
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Helena Gonçalves.

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Conflict of Interest

Helena Gonçalves, Rui Moreira, Ana Rodrigues and Cristina Santos declares that he/she has no conflict of interest.

Ethical Approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Informed Consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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This article is part of the Topical Collection on Systems-Level Quality Improvement

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Gonçalves, H., Moreira, R., Rodrigues, A. et al. Finding Parameters around the Abdomen for a Vibrotactile System: Healthy and Patients with Parkinson’s Disease. J Med Syst 42, 232 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10916-018-1087-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10916-018-1087-2

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