I have a friend who lives on a farm in Minnesota. Her father, who is around 90 and still actively farming, has a condition that makes his hands shake quite a lot. He is very patient and careful but eating is a frustrating experience due to his severe tremor.spoonNow he has a new computer controlled spoon that vastly reduces the shaking and makes eating much more enjoyable (1, 2).

This product is the Liftware spoon and it is described on the Liftware web site as “Liftware is a stabilizing handle and a selection of attachments that include a soup spoon, everyday spoon, and fork. Liftware is specially designed to improve the lives of those with Essential Tremor, Parkinson’s Disease, or other motion disorders” (3, 4). This is a very cool product and appears to be the first such product on the market (5).

A few years ago, my friend’s father and I played golf on a day that was over 90 degrees and even with his tremors he was hitting some pretty good shots that day. A computer controlled putter however might cut a few strokes off his game. Heck, it would probably improve mine.

References

  1. A Spoon That Shakes To Counteract Hand Tremors. All Things Considered, NPR program, May 13, 2014. Audio recording found at: http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2014/05/13/310399325/a-spoon-that-shakes-to-counteract-hand-tremors
  2. Anupam Pathak, John A. Redmond, Michael Allen, Kelvin L. Chou. A noninvasive handheld assistive device to accommodate essential tremor: A pilot study. Movement Disorders, 2013; DOI: 10.1002/mds.25796
  3. LiftLabs (owned by Google) web site found at: http://www.google.com/liftware
  4. Lifeware demonstration and promotional videos. Found at: https://vimeo.com/74643550 and https://vimeo.com/user15993486
  5. International Essential Tremor Foundation. Describes a number of devices to help those with tremors to do ADL activities easier. Found on the Assistive Devices page: http://www.essentialtremor.org/treatments/assistive-devices

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