Patent Watch: Method and device to manage freezing of gait in patients
  suffering from a movement disorder
From: Scientific American - 11/2013 - page 22
By: Sophie Guterl

Imagine walking down the hall, when suddenly your legs refuse to take another
step. Up to 60 percent of people with Parkinson's disease regularly
experience such freezing of gait (FOG) episodes, which can lead to falls and
serious injuries. "Some patients describe the feeling as having their feet
glued to the floor", says Emil Jovanov, a professor of computer and
electrical engineering at the University of Alabama at Huntsville. Current
treatmentss are not always effective, so Jovanov and his colleagues are
developing a device that alleviates FOG with sensory cues, which have been
shown to improve symptoms.

Patent no. 8,409,116 describes the device, which relies on sensors that might
be embedded in a shoe or attached at the ankle. As soon as the system senses a
freeze-up, it wirelessly transmits an auditory cue (such as the word "walk")
to an earpiece, prompting the patient to keep moving. The device is still in
development, but the researchers hope to bring it to market in the next few
years.

Read the entire article at:
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=could-a-simple-ankle-sensor-help-with-parkinsons-symptoms

Patent:
http://www.google.com/patents/WO2010124013A1

Link:
Emil Jovanov
http://www.ece.uah.edu/~jovanov/

Related:
Method and device for managing freezing gait disorders
http://www.google.com/patents/US5575294