Analysis and Suppression of Tremor During Grasp Using Ultrasound Imaging and Electrical Stimulation

Description

Individuals experiencing tremors face difficulty performing activities of daily living caused by involuntary oscillation of the muscles in the hands and arms. Current solutions to help suppress tremors include medication, surgery, assistive devices and lifestyle change. However, each of these has a drawback of its own including cost and unwanted side effects. Aside from the solutions listed, it has been shown that functional electrical stimulation(FES) is a possible solution to help suppress tremor. Additionally, FES can be combined with different technologies including accelerometers, gyroscopes and motion capture to develop a closed loop system for tremor suppression. However, this has drawbacks including signal interference and the need for multiple sensor to fully classify the tremor. Ultrasound imaging solves some of these issues because it can provide a direct visualization of hand muscles that contribute to tremor. This study will focus on detecting characterizing and differentiating tremors from voluntary hand motion using ultrasound imaging. The results obtained from this study will help design FES-based tremor-suppression techniques in the future. This study will target both subjects with different tremor disorders and able bodied subjects.

Conditions

Parkinson Disease, Essential Tremor

Study Overview

Study Details

Study overview

Individuals experiencing tremors face difficulty performing activities of daily living caused by involuntary oscillation of the muscles in the hands and arms. Current solutions to help suppress tremors include medication, surgery, assistive devices and lifestyle change. However, each of these has a drawback of its own including cost and unwanted side effects. Aside from the solutions listed, it has been shown that functional electrical stimulation(FES) is a possible solution to help suppress tremor. Additionally, FES can be combined with different technologies including accelerometers, gyroscopes and motion capture to develop a closed loop system for tremor suppression. However, this has drawbacks including signal interference and the need for multiple sensor to fully classify the tremor. Ultrasound imaging solves some of these issues because it can provide a direct visualization of hand muscles that contribute to tremor. This study will focus on detecting characterizing and differentiating tremors from voluntary hand motion using ultrasound imaging. The results obtained from this study will help design FES-based tremor-suppression techniques in the future. This study will target both subjects with different tremor disorders and able bodied subjects.

Analysis and Suppression of Tremor During Grasp Using Ultrasound Imaging and Electrical Stimulation

Analysis and Suppression of Tremor During Grasp Using Ultrasound Imaging and Electrical Stimulation

Condition
Parkinson Disease
Intervention / Treatment

-

Contacts and Locations

Raleigh

Engineering Building III, Raleigh, North Carolina, United States, 27606

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

For general information about clinical research, read Learn About Studies.

Eligibility Criteria

    Ages Eligible for Study

    18 Years to 90 Years

    Sexes Eligible for Study

    ALL

    Accepts Healthy Volunteers

    Yes

    Collaborators and Investigators

    North Carolina State University,

    Study Record Dates

    2100-01-01