Promising Results: Stanford's Vibrating Glove Treats Parkinson's Disease

[berkeman]

I saw this on the local TV news tonight (I live in Silicon Valley not far from Stanford). It looks to be a very promising and innovative treatment for Parkinson's Disease that is showing some amazing early results (led by Stanford Medicine researcher Peter Tass, MD, PhD). They are calling for a few more volunteer patients for the next stage of the clinical trials (they are almost fully enrolled for that trial now):

https://stanmed.stanford.edu/2021issue2/vibrating-glove-reorganize-neurons-parkinsons.html

An old idea refined​

The idea of using vibrations to treat Parkinson’s is not new, Tass explained. In the 19th century, neurologist Jean-Martin Charcot created a vibrating chair after learning that his patients’ symptoms briefly improved after long, jostling carriage and horseback rides.

Charcot’s vibrating chair, and the vibrating platforms and therapies developed by researchers who followed, alleviated some symptoms of Parkinson’s, but the results were inconclusive and temporary.

When Tass was a medical student, he became intrigued with self-organization — the seemingly spontaneous assembly of patterns and structures, such as clouds and snowflakes. He went on to earn a doctorate in physics and a master’s in mathematics for his research on self-organization, which revealed potential applications for neurological diseases, including Parkinson’s.

 

[bognemark]

This sounds really interesting and promising. I'm glad to hear that the clinical trials are almost full, and I hope the results are as positive as it seems. Thank you for sharing this information!