work

Parkinson's mobility aide

Restoring mobility in people with Parkinson's

Services

  • Design engineering
  • Ergonomic design
  • Rapid prototyping
  • User experience (UX) analysis
  • Functional prototyping
  • Concept generation

Sector

  • medical

Parkinson's disease affects the internal motor control pathways in the brain, particularly those controlling automatic movement and can cause people with Parkinson’s to experience gait-freezing, an involuntary and sudden inability to walk.

the challenge

gaitQ is developing a smart, wearable device aimed at restoring mobility in people with Parkinson's through overcoming gait-freeze by providing an external stimulus (cueing) to move when a freeze is detected.

approach

OPD worked with gaitQ to develop early design concepts and prototypes of a reliable, discreet, and user-friendly wearable gait measurement device for use in early-stage consumer usability tests.

the results

Data collected using the gaitQ system will accurately reflect the episodes of gait symptoms and walking quality over time to track disease progression.

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Our work