App May Prevent Parkinson's Patients' Dangerous Gait Freezing From: Medical Design Technology - 06/26/2015 Many patients in the latter stage of Parkinson's disease are at high risk of dangerous, sometimes fatal, falls. One major reason is the disabling symptom referred to as Freezing of Gait (FoG) - brief episodes of an inability to step forward that typically occurs during gait initiation or when turning while walking. Patients who experience FoG often lose their independence, which has a direct effect on their already degenerating quality of life. In the absence of effective pharmacological therapies for FoG, technology-based solutions to alleviate the symptom and prolong the patients' ability to live independently are desperately being sought. CuPID is a project three years in the making and the product of an eight-member European Union-funded consortium including researchers at Tel Aviv University. It strives to provide personalized rehabilitation for patients with Parkinson's disease who experience FoG or other gait disturbances. CuPID is a home-based, personalized rehabilitation tool in the form of a smartphone app that harnesses wearable sensors, audio biofeedback, and external cueing to provide intense motivational training tailored to each patient. The results are monitored remotely by medical professionals, who provide quality care while enhancing patient compliance. The CuPID app just completed its pilot run and is being fine-tuned for more widespread use. It utilizes small sensors placed on a patients' shoes that measure a person's gait in "real-time." If certain deviations from a pre-set norm emerge, an audio message alerts the patient to change his or her walking pattern immediately to avoid a dangerous situation. Read the entire article at: http://www.mdtmag.com/news/2015/06/app-may-prevent-parkinsons-patients-dangerous-gait-freezing https://www.aftau.org/weblog-medicine--health?=&storyid4704=2208 Links: Jeffrey Hausdorff http://www.tasmc.org.il/sites/en/Personnel/Pages/Hausdorff-Jeff.aspx https://www.michaeljfox.org/foundation/researchers.php?id=748 CuPID http://www.cupid-project.eu Smartphone App Focuses on Addressing Gait Disturbances in Parkinson’s Patients http://www.ptproductsonline.com/2015/06/smartphone-app-focuses-addressing-gait-disturbances-parkinsons-patients/