I was challenged to design a product that addresses an issue in a field of health, safety, food and water, or energy. I chose to research Parkinson’s Disease which can profoundly effect one’s quality of life in several ways. Since it a disease with currently no sure, I was inspired to design an object that could help making living with PD a little easier.
After gathering information on the type of people PD effects and in what ways, I focused on the symptoms it comes with and how I could address one of them. Freezing of gait is a physical symptom that can sometimes be the most interruptive to one’s daily life, but it is not one that is addressed very often.
During the mid to late stages of PD, the disease can cause a shuffled walk or freezing unexpectedly. With freezing of gait, one’s legs and feet feel stuck to the ground because the brain is not able to properly send signals to continue walking. Freezing can easily disrupt one’s daily life and cause anxiety. Simple cues or tricks can help someone unfreeze. These can be visual stimuli such as a spot to focus stepping on or a line to focus crossing over. They can also be audio stimuli such as counting rhythmically or thinking of marching music to encourage a steady gait. I wanted to design an inexpensive device that could give someone easy access to different methods for unfreezing.
Since many people who experience freezing often use walking canes, I wanted to incorporate different methods for unfreezing in a product they already use. I incorporated these methods through a laser to project a grid onto the ground for visual cues and a speaker to play a variety of preset audio files.
Through sketches and foam models, I found a form for the handle that would be particularly comfortable for someone with PD--who experiences issues with grip--and would be detachable for use as a separate device when a cane is not necessary--since some take medication that may not require them to use a cane everyday. Sketches also helped me explore details for height adjustment and the base of the cane.
