5 ms·

Digital Hand Tremor Assessment

30 points by kumarski 12y ago

wavefunction 12y ago
Very interesting. I "diagnosed" (not a doctor) my father's early-stage Parkinson's a few years back when I went home for the holidays and noticed a resting tremor in the classic "pill-rolling" motion. No one had mentioned anything to him about it and a resting tremor is unlikely to be noticed by the sufferer. I got him to see a neurologist, whose more accurate and professional testing confirmed my concerns. But this looks like a great early-warning system.
zavulon 12y ago
Not to hijack the thread, but I really like a "tremor-stabilizing spoon" mentioned in the article: https://www.liftlabsdesign.com/ https://www.liftlabsdesign.com/. Will look into for someone I know with a tremor.
- kumarski 12y ago
  Chris saw that too a while ago. thanks for linking. We should have mentioned it in the post.
- chriscls 12y ago
  Hey Zavulon, Chris from the blog here. Glad you found the link. I found their technology interesting as well, and so close to creating real human value, its inspiring.
smoyer 12y ago
I inherited tremors ... mine aren't always present and when I have them they're relatively minor. The bad news is that I can see how they progress by watching my mom's tremors. I'm pretty sure I won't be drawing or even writing in another 20-25 years. So what I'm wondering is whether this "test" can be adapted to become an "exercise". Will practicing with the test for some number of minutes a day condition my hands to stay more tremor free? That might be an interesting body hack.
- te_platt 12y ago
  The quick answer is probably not. Tremors run in my family and I have them pretty bad - using a fork with my left hand is iffy for me. The tremors are not a matter of weakness. For modest tremors you may want to look into the drug Propranolol. I've used it and it helps but has side effects - for me drowsiness was the worst part. In severe cases there are surgery options. It involves the brain so it's not a minor thing. I have an anesthesiologist friend who tells me it would be fun but I think he means fun for him, not me.
spike021 12y ago
I'm 21 years old and inherited Essential Tremor from my grandfather. They're definitely noticeable normally, but can get worse during a caffeine or adrenaline high (also if anxious about something). It makes taking notes during a lecture or handwriting for a long test kind of difficult. Answers get messy, so professors can't always read everything. Either that, or I try to slow down my pace, but then that ends up using more time than I have. I think there's a long way to go until there's a "cure" or way of treating it, but the work you've put in will hopefully be prove useful to the research community. Thanks Chris for taking the time to work on this cool project.
- chriscls 12y ago
  Thanks spike, hopefully research comes a long way in the near future to understand the root cause and address it in some way.

30 points by kumarski 12y ago

Very interesting. I "diagnosed" (not a doctor) my father's early-stage Parkinson's a few years back when I went home for the holidays and noticed a resting tremor in the classic "pill-rolling" motion. No one had mentioned anything to him about it and a resting tremor is unlikely to be noticed by the sufferer. I got him to see a neurologist, whose more accurate and professional testing confirmed my concerns. But this looks like a great early-warning system.

zavulon 12y ago

Not to hijack the thread, but I really like a "tremor-stabilizing spoon" mentioned in the article: https://www.liftlabsdesign.com/ https://www.liftlabsdesign.com/. Will look into for someone I know with a tremor.

kumarski 12y ago
Chris saw that too a while ago. thanks for linking. We should have mentioned it in the post.
chriscls 12y ago
Hey Zavulon, Chris from the blog here. Glad you found the link. I found their technology interesting as well, and so close to creating real human value, its inspiring.

smoyer 12y ago

I inherited tremors ... mine aren't always present and when I have them they're relatively minor. The bad news is that I can see how they progress by watching my mom's tremors. I'm pretty sure I won't be drawing or even writing in another 20-25 years. So what I'm wondering is whether this "test" can be adapted to become an "exercise". Will practicing with the test for some number of minutes a day condition my hands to stay more tremor free? That might be an interesting body hack.

te_platt 12y ago
The quick answer is probably not. Tremors run in my family and I have them pretty bad - using a fork with my left hand is iffy for me. The tremors are not a matter of weakness. For modest tremors you may want to look into the drug Propranolol. I've used it and it helps but has side effects - for me drowsiness was the worst part. In severe cases there are surgery options. It involves the brain so it's not a minor thing. I have an anesthesiologist friend who tells me it would be fun but I think he means fun for him, not me.

spike021 12y ago

I'm 21 years old and inherited Essential Tremor from my grandfather. They're definitely noticeable normally, but can get worse during a caffeine or adrenaline high (also if anxious about something). It makes taking notes during a lecture or handwriting for a long test kind of difficult. Answers get messy, so professors can't always read everything. Either that, or I try to slow down my pace, but then that ends up using more time than I have. I think there's a long way to go until there's a "cure" or way of treating it, but the work you've put in will hopefully be prove useful to the research community. Thanks Chris for taking the time to work on this cool project.

chriscls 12y ago
Thanks spike, hopefully research comes a long way in the near future to understand the root cause and address it in some way.