ABSTRACT
Discovery
Dan can stop his Parkinson’s Disease symptoms by sanding a wood chair
Research
What happened, why, how
Apparatus/method
Design and build an experimental device to test with
Experiment
Find and work with people who have movement disorders
Empirical results
Observe, measure and record
Therapy
Incorporate the improvements derived from closed loop learning
All
All stages feed forward to improve successive stages and backward to improve previous stages.
Key Takeaways
1. TREMOREX is a movement disorder therapy that trains and restores aberrant reflex muscle memories
2. Dan discovered he could completely mitigate his Parkinson’s Disease symptoms by sanding a wood chair with a power sander
3. Experimentation required establishing a baseline, scheduling frequent sessions over protracted periods, and recording measurements and observations.
4. The learning process is a closed loop system wherein parameters are changed, and improvements incorporated.
TREMOREX is a movement disorder therapy that trains and restores aberrant reflex muscle memories. A reflex is the automatic execution of a muscle memory in response to stimulation of a sensory neuron and, like all muscle memories, can be improved with practice. TREMOREX therapy combines passive movement; supplied by a programmable apparatus, with voluntary movement; exercise routines, that effectuate reflexes repeatedly and under challenging conditions.
This paper summarizes the TREMOREX project from Dan’s incidental discovery that sanding a wood chair stopped Parkinson’s Disease symptoms in their tracks and combined with activity involving: extensive research, designing and building six experimental devices, recruiting participants with Parkinson’s Disease or Essential Tremor, performing frequent sessions over protracted periods, collecting thousands of measurements and contemporaneous observations, recording before and after videos, formulating hypothesis based on accepted scientific facts and theories, patenting an apparatus and method that mitigates movement disorders, developing a website, www.tremorex.com, featuring this body of work, with the objective of developing a highly effective movement disorder therapy that is a drug free, non-invasive, endogenous, and with only positive side effects.
NARATION
Discovery
Dan held out his hand and asked me to look at it. It had no tremor. He then squatted and quickly stood up. He did not lose his balance. His speech was steady and clear. His Parkinson Disease symptoms were nowhere to be seen. He told me the arrest of his symptoms was the result of having worked with a power sander. He said “after sanding for 30 minutes switching left to right hands with pressure it greatly reduces my symptoms for 24 hours. I have repeated this 8 times over a two-month period with the same results”.
I was taken aback for several reasons. First, the suppression of movement disorders continued for a protracted period following the use of the sander. That ruled out some sort of noise cancellation or damping function. That meant changes to Dan occurred. Second, all movement and apparently cognitive disorders ceased or were substantially reduced. That indicated the effect was systemic; how could the movement in Dan’s arms and upper body affect his face, balance, and energy level. Third, there must be something unique about Dan’s experience; else it or something close to it would be a therapy.
I commenced what turned out to be a never ending and all-consuming research project. I located several people with Parkinson’s Disease and Essential Tremor. I had them exercise with a variety of power tools outfitted with fixtures and controls. That lead me to the present experimental model featured in the home page.
Experimentation
The investigator set about to determine if similar experience could be replicated in other people with movement disorders. He assembled 6 apparatus that could produce movement analogous to the sander with capabilities to control amplitude and frequency. Fixtures and exercise routines were developed to direct the passive movement to targeted limbs and to apply loads that increase demands on subjects whilst engaged in voluntary gross and fine movement.
The investigator quickly determined that tremor frequency, amplitude and force served as measurable biomarkers indicating the severity of movement disorders.
The investigator sought to determine the effectiveness, percent reduction in tremor following each therapy session, how long the reduction persisted following each session, if the improvements changed with repeated sessions over time, and the optimum apparatus settings and exercise routines.
The investigator enlisted five volunteers with PD and one volunteer with Essential Tremor to conduct experiments. Experimental protocol consisted of:
- Establishing a baseline tremor by using a smart phone with spectrum analysis application to measure tremor during each day for several days.
- Measuring tremor before and immediately after an exercise session to measure and determine session effectivity.
- Measuring tremor at intervals following the exercise session to determine persistence of each session.
- Comparing before and after measurements over a protracted period to determine effectivity and persistence changes resulting from repeated exercise sessions.
NOTE: Tremor measurements were made with spectrum analyses application in a smart phone. They were made immediately before and after sessions, and at scheduled intervals or until tremor returned to noticeable levels. Measurements were emailed to investigator whereupon they were entered into spread sheets to analyze effectiveness and persistence and response to changes in session parameters.
In addition to tremor analysis, qualitative data was collected.
- Video recording sessions.
- Contemporaneous observations and commentary of participants and witnesses.
NOTE: all participants were taking prescribed medications that could obscure test results. Exercise was scheduled with knowledge of medication scheduling to minimize or correlate the two therapies.
Results
Five participants experienced immediate, first session, substantial improvement, over 90% reduction in tremor. Four experienced 18 hours or more of sustained tremor reduction. Long term effects improved as sessions were carried out once per day and reduced to once every several days. One participant stopped doing sessions but continued to take daily measurements to see how long tremor remained mitigated. After 1 ½ months with no return of tremor, sessions were resumed to continue evolvement of therapy.
A sixth participant did not suffer tremor but had nearly all the PD symptoms including Hypomimia aka masked face. Four sessions were performed over a period of months, each produced significant improvement in all symptoms as observed by participant, investigator, witnesses, and the video recorder for others to evaluate. Contemporaneous commentary was transcribed.
Go to Subject improvement for a more detailed and quantitative description of six TREMOREX therapy participants.
The apparatus and methods evolved. The effectivity results were profound and there remains opportunity to enhance performance further as several parameters have not or have been minimally manipulated for effectivity