Three-dimensional motion system ("data-gloves"): application for Parkinson's disease and essential tremor

The accurate modelling and analysis of medical treatment plays an important role in modern medical science. This paper describes an attempt to apply current sensor and control techniques to quantitatively measure significant motion of the human body. By modelling the movement of the human hand this system can accurately measure the hand posture and all the phalanges, store the measurements as X,Y,Z absolute positions and the computer can (offline) compute the movement of the hand and phalanges. By applying dedicated embedded electronics a portable and networked system can be realized which may be used in the clinical assessment of stroke patients or medical conditions such as Parkinson's disease. It can be used as both a training instrument and a tool for medical diagnosis and research, leading to objective analysis of medical conditions involving accurate posture measurement of the human body.