A GUIDE TO WEARABLE TECH AND PARKINSON’S DISEASE
For those of you who read my blog last week, you are aware that the main theme of the International Congress of Parkinson’s Disease and Movement Disorders was Technology in the Diagnosis, Monitoring and Management of Movement Disorders. This inspired the topic for my current blog – wearable technology in Parkinson’s disease.
Wearable technology refers to numerous methods by which movement information is captured on a continuous basis using various sensors worn by a patient. The basic technology being used in the research efforts currently underway typically consist of various combinations of accelerometers (electronic devices that measure magnitude and direction of the change in the rate of an object’s speed) and gyrometers (electronic devices that measure the rate and angle of an object’s rotation). The technologies differ mainly in the algorithms used to interpret the data that is collected.