HOOP: mHealth tOol for parkinsOn’s disease training and rehabilitation at Patient’s home

 

Project leader: Björn Eskofier

Project members: Christine Martindale

Start date: 1. February 2018

End date: 31. January 2019

Funding source: EU - 8. Rahmenprogramm - Horizon 2020

Abstract

The HOOP project aims to:

1)       Develop of a universal platform to train PD patients. Parkinson’s disease (PD) patients

repeatedly report great disparities in access to, and quality of, the full range of

Parkinson’s disease services. This represents a social risk for them in terms of access to

medical specialists, caregivers or medical therapy. The value of therapy services in PD

has outlined the importance of having access to these interventions from an early

stage of the disease. A solution which improves the delivery of training to PD patients,

and represents an opportunity to enroll and follow-up, personalized physical therapy

programs at home are important for promoting patient’s long-term engagement and

self-management of their own health.

2)       Improve the quality of life of PD patients through the platform. In addition to the

benefits provided to Parkinson’s patients and according to recent studies showing that

in 2016 a 39,3% of the population in Europe is over 50 years old, which means that

there will be an increase in the mobility and fragility issues due to the aging. In this

sense, it is very important to promote systems and solutions that encourage healthy

living habits with the aim of improving the quality of life.

3)       Provide a final product available and ready for market u p-take. During 2017, HOOP is

being developed from a research laboratory prototype to a semi-commercial product.

Various exploitation plans are being investigated and several potential target markets

related to Parkinson’s disease have shown interest in our product. This means that

HOOP is a mature project, which is close to achieving commercialisation. However, in

order to achieve the latest and most important goals of the project, a commercial

version of the prototype must be finalised, tested and validated. Moreover, the

possibility to extend the target markets would increase the added value of the

product.