Tremor is an unintentional, rhythmic muscle movement involving to-and-fro movements (oscillations) of one or more parts of the body. It is the most common of all involuntary movements and can affect the hands, arms, head, face, voice, trunk, and legs.The frequency and amplitude of a tremor vary to the degree that the tremor may be hardly noticeable or severely disabling. Frequency can be divided into three categories of oscillation per second:slow (3 to 5 Hz),intermediate (5 to 8 Hz) or rapid (9 to 12 Hz).A coarse tremor has a large displacement whereas a fine tremor is barely noticeable to the naked eye.Tremor may be unifocal,multifocal or generalized and may affect the head, face, jaw, voice,tongue,trunk or extremities.This project proposes to build a prototype using embedded system(IoT) which would replace the more costlier method of EMG.
This system consists of various sensors like the accelerometer and flex sensor.The accelerometer sensor is used to determine the position of the hand,the values from the accelerometer are used to determine the frequency and amplitude of the hand tremor.The flex sensor is used for the movement of the fingers due to tremor.The flex sensor and the accelerometer sensor are combined to give the frequency of an hand movement due to tremor.The controller used is particle photon which has an in-builtWi-Fi module which could be used to upload the values of the frequency and amplitude of the tremor which could be analysed by a doctor sitting at a hospital many kilometres away from the patient could be done even through the phone.
The whole system including the control part of the tremor could be completed within a budget of Rs.12000 to Rs.15000.Based on the frequencies the type of tremor could be distinguished.Postural tremor – when limb is positioned against gravity (5 to 9 Hz) Ex:Drug Induced or Alcohol abuse,Rest tremor-When limb is fully supported against gravity and the muscles are not voluntarily activated (3 to 6 Hz) Ex:Parkinsons disease,Action tremor (close to or more than 10 Hz) Ex:Cerebral lesions.We are aiming to develop the idea into wearable which could be constantly worn by the patients with ease.The control of tremor can be done by using a high speed rotating disc which suppresses the tremor to an extent.
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