This proposal evaluates a prototype Transcutaneous Electrical Movement Timing Stimulator (TEMTS) with the potential to improve akinesia/ bradykinesia in Parkinson?s Disease (PD). We will evaluate improvements through a randomized sham versus actual 20 patient clinical study with each human subject as its own control, utilizing a battery of quantitative motor performance tests and instrumentation. TEMTS could significantly enhance everyday task performance, such as, walking, cooking, eating, personal hygiene and exercise, improving the quality of life for the 1.2 million people in the U.S. affected by PD. PD is characterized by movement dysfunction resulting from selective neurodegeneration of dopamine producing neurons of the substantia nigra pars compacta (SNpc). Promisingly, the dysfunction appears to be pharmacologic resulting in reversible physiologic abnormalities. The common scenario of ?paradoxical kinesia?, where PD patients can move normally with correct external sensory cueing, is empirical evidence of even advanced PD patients exhibiting ability to produce normal movements. We have produced and demonstrated in a case study, a sensory cueing device that normalizes many of these PD motor deficits. This proposal evaluates TEMTS performance in a statistically significant patient population and evolves the design to improve efficacy leading to an alternative treatment for PD motor dysfunction.
