Stanford Institutes of Medicine Research Program

BLUF - I developed a medical device prototype to alleviate one symptom of Parkinson's disease in a team of five high school students at Stanford

Patients with advanced Parkinson's experience freezing of gait (FOG), where their body forgets how to change their gait cycle. This loss of coordination leads to temporary inability to change directions while walking or initiate walking. External cueing devices have proven effective at reducing the length of these episodes. In particular, displaying a target on the ground gives patients a location to aim for, which is more effective than playing a metronome through a speaker or vibration.

Prototyping

I designed the device housing using Fusion 360 to later 3D print the enclosure

a) Housing for the laser diode that shines a line similar to a bike light on a ball joint

b) Electronics including gyro, accelerometer, bluetooth, and battery

c) Device housing

d) Shoe strap

e) Charging port

To ensure that the light would shine at intended intervals in the gait cycle, we used an accelerometer to determine whether either foot was stationary. The stationary foot's device would then shine the target for the opposite foot to land on. Bluetooth communication with a smartphone allowed the user to turn on the device.

In order to display a target on the ground, two shoe attachments need to be made. The first complete prototype demonstrated the proof of concept for using visual cueing that shortens the length of freezing of gait episodes.

Results

At the end of the eight week program, my team presented at a poster symposium, fielding any questions faculty and visitors had regarding our methods and device capabilities.

SIMR poster.pdf

Conclusion

Across eight weeks, I reviewed the literature to find a clinical need, devised a plan for addressing the need, calculated expenses, and prototyped the device. Future work would involve conducting trials with actual patients to validate the device's efficacy, which would require an additional four weeks and streamlining the form factor.