Researchers at Universidad de Santiago develop an application to help people with Parkinson’s disease

  • A research team led by Dr. Pedro Chaná designed an application for computers and mobile devices that helps people with Parkinson’s disease to follow an exercise routine and contact with their attending team of physicians.
  • The researchers of this study that relates Psychology to Information Science are part of the Information Technology Innovation Center for Social Applications and the Center for Movement Disorders. Dr. Pedro Chaná said that this tool “facilitates patients’ rehabilitation, contributing to improve their quality of life.”

 

According to international data, there are about 40 thousand people with Parkinson’s disease in Chile, while about 2% of the world population suffers from this neurodegenerative disorder that affects the central nervous system and movement and, therefore, people’s quality of life.

In this context, researchers at our University developed an innovative application for computers and mobile devices that helps patients with their exercise routines.

By relating Information Science to Psychology, specialists of the Information Technology Innovation Center for Social Applications (Citiaps, in Spanish) and the Center for Movement Disorders (Cetram, in Spanish), both of Universidad de Santiago de Chile, designed the Rehabilitation Exercise Virtual Assistant (AVER, in Spanish).

This tool allows people with Parkinson’s disease to follow an exercise routine according to a calendar and to receive instructions from their doctors in their cell phones. At the same time, doctors will be able to monitor their patients’ progress and to communicate with them through texts, images and videos from their computers.

The principal investigator of the project and director of Cetram, Dr. Pedro Chaná, said that the application “facilitates patients’ rehabilitation, complements their workout routines and contributes to improve their quality of life.”

Dr. Chaná also said the AVER has already been implemented as a pilot project and is being evaluated in order to adapt the technology to users. “What follows is the field test, the last pertinent corrections and the implementation,” he added.

Besides, Dr. Chaná valued the work done together with young researchers of Cetram and Citiaps, “with whom we made up a multidisciplinary team and developed a different and very positive work culture.”

Contribution to patients’ quality of life

The Rehabilitation Exercise Virtual Assistant has been developed by a team mostly made up of young researchers. One of them, Álvaro Fernández (Citiaps), a post-doctoral researcher, shows himself “very pleased” with the work that they have done. Dr. Elena Herrera (Citiaps) shares his opinion, highlighting the contribution “to patients’ autonomy and quality of life” made by the application that they developed.

“Frequently, patients are not able to go to the physiotherapist on a regular basis or cannot afford it. This innovation will be of great help to them. Besides, it is a significant contribution to their autonomy, as they will be able to work out without needing to travel long distances or to interrupt their daily routines,” Dr. Herrera added.

The AVER tool developed at Universidad de Santiago is expected to undergo the last improvements to finally be implemented for the benefit of patients, the world of medicine and society in general.


Translated by Marcela Contreras