Due to the steadily improving health care system, also the life expectancy of patients with Parkinson's disease continuously increases. As patients now live longer with the burden of this chronic disease, they demand for improvements in their treatment and call for better participation in society. Regular, high-frequency training may help these patients to maintain their motor skills as long as possible and targets to minimize the need for medication, surgery and supportive tools like a walking frame.
The project aims on developing two software systems who shall improve the daily living conditions of Parkinson's patients: One for the patient as a training opportunity in the home environment, the other as a monitoring tool for therapists in rehabilitation clinics. For the in-home training, the research team develops a therapy tool which allow the patient to exercise independently and regularly. It shall be motivating and adaptive, thus needs to base on the personal needs of Parkinson's patients, and targets on combining an appealing presentation with an accurate assessment of motor skills.
For the monitoring tool in the hospital, the project team will collect a comprehensive catalog of parkinsonian symptoms and associated compensatory measures. The tool will assist therapists and patients by visualizing the progress in the training of motor skills. For instance, the image on the left illustrates the chair-rise-test, a control movement to estimate the postural stability of a patient.
Fördermittelgeber: BMWi
Kooperationspartner:
FAKT Software GmbH
Universität Leipzig/Klinik und Poliklinik für Neurochirurgie
Klinik am Tharandter Wald
