Wearable haptic anklets for gait and freezing improvement in Parkinson's disease: a proof-of-concept study.
Simone RossiTommaso Lisini BaldiMarco AggraviMonica UlivelliDavid CioncoloniViola NiccoliniLorenzo DonatiDomenico PrattichizzoPublished in: Neurological sciences : official journal of the Italian Neurological Society and of the Italian Society of Clinical Neurophysiology (2020)
The WEARHAP-PD device, whose Technology Readiness Level (TRL) is 6, significantly improved some walking abilities (walking velocity and stride variance) and reduced the duration of FOG episodes in idiopathic PD patients. Unlike the traditional auditory and visual explicit cues that require the user's allocation of attention for correct functioning, the interaction of the patients with the surrounding environment was preserved, due to the likely implicit processing of haptic stimuli.