Swedish designer’s new suit aims to improve mobility in Parkinson’s, stroke and celebral palsy patients
The single-piece suit is equipped with 58 imbedded electrodes, which are adjusted to the user’s individual needs
In a renewed hope for patients with Parkinson’s, who often experience tremors through their body, a Swedish engineer has created a suit that can help them significantly reduce such tremors using electronic stimulation.
According to makerfairerome.eu, the Exopulse Mollii Suit can improve mobility for people affected by a stroke, Cerebral Palsy, or Parkinson’s disease.
How?
The single-piece suit is equipped with 58 embedded electrodes, which are adjusted to the user’s individual needs throughout the day.
As per the website, low-frequency electrostimulation improves blood circulation and restores the previously inhibited balance between muscle pairs. If, for example, the bicep is tensed, the suit stimulates the tricep, which in turn causes the bicep to relax. As such, the technology works in a complementary way to functional electrical stimulation (FES), in which nerves are stimulated with small electrical impulses in order to trigger movements.
The medical assistive device for neuromodulation consists of a pair of trousers, a jacket and a detachable control unit. The suit helps relieve chronic pain and relaxes spastic and tense muscles safely and simply. It also activates muscles to regain control and prevent disuse atrophy and it may also increase local blood circulation.
The website states that several clinical studies have been completed or are currently ongoing on the suit led by renowned doctors at universities and hospitals such as Karolinska Institutet in Sweden, Hvidovre Hospital in Denmark, Hospital Henry Mondor in France and LAU in Lebanon.
The design is backed by Otto Bock, a German prosthetics company.
Previously in 2019, Harvard researchers had developed a hip-hugging suit that adapted with a person’s movements to help them walk as well as run.
The lightweight suit first studies the movements of a person and then kicks in to help the lower body work more efficiently, reported Healthline.
The exosuit, created by a Harvard design lab team led by Conor Walsh, a professor of engineering and applied sciences at Harvard University, derived its inspiration from the exoskeleton. The research team published its findings in the journal Science.
“The idea is if we can give them just enough of a boost to help them walk better, they’ll improve faster,” he told Healthline.
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