We have been contacted by a 4th year student studying Product Design at the University of Dundee.
His mother was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease a few years ago and since then he has been interested in exploring ways which design may benefit her.
He has particular interest in the aid of vibration therapy/stimulation for people who struggle with ‘freeze of gait’ with Parkinson’s Disease. He is thinking about integrating a technology with the same aiding function into a type of active walking pole to aid people in the early stages of PD in the outdoors.
He has approached us in the hope he might be able to gain some valuable research from Branch members.
Our Branch members are usually very keen to support research, so we will likely support this student and either ask for participants for short online or in-person interviews, or to undertake a small survey.
Watch this space and we will keep you posted. It sounds like an intriguing proposition, further down the line we may be to see some functioning prototypes, as the project develops.