If you read about Parkinson’s disease (PD), you will quickly hear about typical symptom such as muscle stiffness and tremor. But how does that feel?
For a healthy person it is very difficult to imagine who it feels to have PD. Dr Roland Schöffel from SD&C has therefore built the Parkinson’s Suit, with which one can simulate PD. The NCER-PD Team has tested the suit at the Annual Conference 2015 of the young patient organisation “Jung und Parkinson” in Saarlouis, Germany.
At first sight the suits resembles a racing outfit. A young man helps interested people into the red overall. But after the comfortable suit follows quickly the mobility-restricting measures: cuffs on knees and elbows hinder the flexion of these joints. Next follow heavy weights on arms, legs and trunk. The SD&C employee loads a total of 10 kilos onto the participants body and explains that the cuffs and weights should simulate how heavy and inflexible the muscles of patients can feel. The suit focuses only on the motor symptoms and simulates an average person as the severity and type of symptoms can vary from patient to patient. In the practical test, NCER-PD employee Dr Sabine Mosch is clearly walking slower. She clearly has a hard time pursuing movements that require lifting of arms or legs.
But muscle stiffness is not the only symptom, that one can experience first-hand. Via electrodes on the lower arm and a special glove also the tremor can be simulated. Slowly the current is increased and the initial tinkling turns into a profound tremor of the right hand. The smooth glove additionally impedes fine motor skills. At the NCER-PD booth, Mosch tests her dexterity with and without the suit on the PEG-Board. This test is also used within the NCER-PD study and participants needs to put in 30 seconds as many little metal studs in tiny holes on a wooden board as possible. „Expectedly, the results of my right shaking hand where worse than before. However, also the result of my left hand deteriorated even though I was not shaking with this hand. I was distracted by the tremor oft he other hand and also my arms and shoulders felt really heavy“, says Mosch. At the end all testers agree: the suits gives great insight into the motor impairments of Parkinson’s patient and give insights that get under the skin.
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