For hundreds of thousands of people across the globe, simple acts like drinking a cup of coffee or combing their hair are almost impossible due to shaking in their arms and hands known as essential tremors.
While there are drugs to combat the symptoms, many consider the side effects worse than the tremors themselves.
NIU Professor of Mechanical Engineering Abhijit Gupta is working to develop a drug free treatment. Instead of drugs, he proposes steadying arms the same technology that is currently used to stabilize machines and reduce noise.
His work, funded by a federal grant, will explore the use of active control to battle the ailment. He proposes fitting patients with sensors that would detect a tremor in its earliest stages, then activate a device that would prompt actuators worn on the effected limb to exert an equal and opposite force to steady the arm.
While the process is currently being explored only in the laboratory, Gupta hopes his work will lead to happier and more productive lives for thousands in the not too distant future.
- Joe King, NIU Public Affairs
- Photos by Scott Walstrom, NIU Media Services