Analysis and Suppression of Tremor During Grasp Using Ultrasound Imaging and Electrical Stimulation

Summary

Individuals experiencing tremors face difficulty performing activities of daily living caused by involuntary oscillation of the muscles in the hands and arms. Current solutions to help suppress tremors include medication, surgery, assistive devices and lifestyle change. However, each of these has a drawback of its own including cost and unwanted side effects. Aside from the solutions listed, it has been shown that functional electrical stimulation (FES) is a possible solution to help suppress tremor. Additionally, FES can be combined with different technologies including accelerometers, gyroscopes and motion capture to develop a closed loop system for tremor suppression. However, this has drawbacks including signal interference and the need for multiple sensor to fully classify the tremor. Ultrasound imaging solves some of these issues because it can provide a direct visualization of hand muscles that contribute to tremor. This study will focus on detecting characterizing and differentiating tremors from voluntary hand motion using ultrasound imaging. The results obtained from this study will help design FES-based tremor-suppression techniques in the future. This study will target both subjects with different tremor disorders and able bodied subjects.

Conditions

• Parkinson Disease
• Essential Tremor

Interventions

DEVICE

Ultrasound Imaging

We will collect ultrasound images during the grasping motion for both groups

DEVICE

Electromyography

We will collect electromyography (EMG) signals of both the flexor and extensor muscles of the wrist during the grasping motion for both groups

DEVICE

Inertial Measurement Units (IMU)

We will use data from the ultrasound images and EMG to develop a tremor model. The model will be validated in comparison to joint angle measurements from an Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) collected during the grasping motion

DEVICE

Functional Electrical Stimulation (FES)

We will use the develop closed-loop control methods for tremor suppression using information from the ultrasound-image based tremor models. FES will be used to provide stimulation that will help with tremor suppression

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

  collaborator OTHER

• North Carolina State University

  lead OTHER

Study Design

Allocation

NON_RANDOMIZED

Purpose

OTHER

Masking

NONE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Max Age

90 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2021-04-11

Primary Completion

2025-07-31

Completion

2025-07-31

Countries

• United States

Study Locations