Swing those arms for diagnosis
An arm that swings less than the other is reportedly an early sign of Parkinson’s disease. Inexpensive accelerometres were attached to the arms of eight Parkinson’s disease patients who were in the early stages of the disease. Subjects then walked continuously for about eight minutes at a comfortable pace, while researchers downloaded the acceleration data.
An arm that swings less than the other is reportedly an early sign of Parkinson’s disease.
Inexpensive accelerometres were attached to the arms of eight Parkinson’s disease patients who were in the early stages of the disease. Subjects then walked continuously for about eight minutes at a comfortable pace, and researchers then downloaded the acceleration data and used software they developed.
“Scientists have known for some time people with Parkinson’s disease exhibit reduced arm swing during the later stages of the disease, but no one had come up with an easy way to measure this,” Stephen Piazza, associate professor of kinesiology at Pennsylvania State University, said.
“We found not only do people with the disease exhibit reduced arm wring, but they also exhibit asymmetric arm swing, and this asymmetric arm swing can easily be detected early in the disease’s progression,” he added.
Researchers noted significantly higher acceleration asymmetry, lower cross-correlation between the arms and reduced synchronisation of the arms in the early Parkinson’s disease patients.
The new method of evaluating arm swing is said to be applied quickly and inexpensively by primary care physicians in their own offices.
“Measuring arm swing asymmetry and coordination with our method may be the cheapest and the most effective way to detect Parkinson’s early in patients’ lives when it still is possible to treat the symptoms of the disease and to improve longevity,” Professor Piazza said.
American scientists plan to further investigate whether the arm swing evaluation, in combination with a smell test, can enhance early diagnosis even more.
