An Integrated software platform for Tagging Freezing of Gait in Parkinson Disease (FOG-IT)

Freezing of Gait (FOG) is a complex, episodic and debilitating symptom, common in Parkinson Disease. FOG is an involuntary gait block, predominantly occurring in unsupervised settings. Patients with FOG are at a very high risk of falls, experience more anxiety and have a lower quality of life than those without this gait breakdown. A key issue preventing the progression of FOG research is that methods to detect and quantify these events are time-consuming and unreliable. Partly based on historical data, a multidisciplinary team of health researchers and engineers will develop an integrated and personalized software-platform to automate FOG detection in patients’ homes through a modular structure. In an experimental pipeline from lab to home, they will then collect more data to optimize accurate and robust detection algorithms and ensure user-friendly interfaces. Finally, a roadmap for wide availability of the system will be set up with different licensing strategies towards different stakeholders in clinical care and research. As such, FOG-IT will position the KU Leuven as a key player in future European R&D bids for FOG-studies.

Keywords:Mobility, Parkinson's disease, Motion detection

Disciplines:Rehabilitation engineering, Rehabilitation