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Using a Dual Vibration Absorber to Suppress Rest Hand Tremor of Elderly

Authors:
Sarah Gebai
Mohamad Hammoud
Hassan Khachfe

Keywords: Parkinson disease; elderly; tremor reduction; mechanical treatment; dual vibration absorber

Abstract:
Human tremor is a public health problem that can lead to social and physical deterioration. Parkinson disease (PD) is a slowly progressive degenerative disorder of the central nervous system. It is more significant on elderly patient. Its signs start to appear at the age of 59 years. Levodopa is the most commonly used medication to reduce tremor in PD patients, but has serious side effects. Vibration absorbers can be used as a mechanical treatment that can counter-act the involuntary tremor caused by difficulties to give certain commands to the muscles. The hand is modeled at the musculoskeletal level as a three degree-of-freedom (DOF) system in the horizontal plane. The vibration absorbers are designed to reduce the flexion angle at the shoulder, elbow and wrist joints when the muscles are operating at the resonance frequencies that belong to the range of resting tremor. Single and dual series absorbers are designed to satisfy the tuning conditions. The system’s behavior is analyzed in the frequency and time domains. The suggested dual absorber is composed of a series combination between the elastic absorber and the viscous damper absorber. It is more efficient than a single absorber of the same total mass and causes 85.7–86.6%, 88.4–91.3% and 58.29–59.9% amplitude reduction at the shoulder, elbow and wrist joints, respectively.

Pages: 37 to 42

Copyright: Copyright (c) IARIA, 2016

Publication date: October 9, 2016

Published in: conference

ISSN: 2308-4553

ISBN: 978-1-61208-511-1

Location: Venice, Italy

Dates: from October 9, 2016 to October 13, 2016