Market assessment of an eating assistive device for people living with movement disorder

针对运动障碍患者的饮食辅助装置的市场评估

• 批准号: 536748-2019
• 负责人: CampeauLecours, Alexandre
• 金额: $ 1.09万
• 依托单位: Université Laval
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Idea to Innovation
• 财政年份: 2018
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2018-01-01 至 2019-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=646773
• 关键词: Market; assessment; eating; assistive; device

The aim of this project is to complete a market assessment of an eating assistive device for people living with movement disorders. Being able to eat without the assistance of a caregiver is an important step towards autonomy. Unfortunately, many people living with movement disorders such as spasticity, spasms, ataxia and dyspraxia do not have this opportunity. It is indeed very difficult (great effort, not comfortable, spill a lot of food either because of abrupt movements or because they are not able to keep the utensil straight) or even impossible for them to eat autonomously. These movement disorders are linked to diagnosis such as cerebral palsy (43000 Canadians), spinal cord injuries (118000), multiple sclerosis (77000), cranio cerebral trauma, stroke (319000) and Parkinson's disease (55000). It is estimated by the researchers that the invention could directly reach 150000 Canadians (and obviously many more worldwide). The ageing of the population creates more stresses for this situation since we will have to take care of more people losing autonomy but with fewer active resources. **While different assistive technologies have been developed to assist people living with upper body disabilities, our investigations have shown that currently no devices meet the needs of people living with movement disorders (spasticity, spasms, ataxia and dyspraxia) either because they lack in functionality or because they are too expensive.**Our team has thus developed an innovative mechanical solution allowing the system to move in three dimensions while keeping the utensil always parallel to the ground and while reducing the impact of involuntary movements thanks to mechanical dampers.**The objective is to allow people living with movement disorders (spasticity, spasms, ataxia and dyspraxia) to eat autonomously. Within this project, the technology development is performed within a rich interdisciplinary team (mechanical engineering, occupational therapy, kinesiology, physiotherapy) using an iterative user-centered approach with potential users and clinical experts.******************

该项目的目的是完成针对运动障碍患者的饮食辅助装置的市场评估。能够在没有护理人员帮助的情况下进食是迈向自主的重要一步。不幸的是，许多患有痉挛、痉挛、共济失调和运动障碍等运动障碍的人没有这个机会。对于他们来说，自主进食确实是非常困难的（费力，不舒服，由于突然的动作或者因为无法保持器皿笔直而洒出很多食物），甚至不可能。这些运动障碍与脑瘫（43000 名加拿大人）、脊髓损伤（118000 人）、多发性硬化症（77000 人）、颅脑外伤、中风（319000 人）和帕金森病（55000 人）等诊断相关。研究人员估计，这项发明可以直接惠及 150,000 名加拿大人（显然全世界还有更多人）。人口老龄化给这种情况带来了更大的压力，因为我们将不得不照顾更多失去自主权但可用资源减少的人。 **虽然已经开发出不同的辅助技术来帮助上半身残疾的人，但我们的调查表明，目前没有任何设备能够满足运动障碍（痉挛、痉挛、共济失调和运动障碍）患者的需求，要么是因为它们缺乏功能，要么是因为它们太昂贵。**因此，我们的团队开发了一种创新的机械解决方案，允许系统在三个维度上移动，同时保持器具始终与地面平行，同时 通过机械阻尼器减少不自主运动的影响。**目标是让患有运动障碍（痉挛、痉挛、共济失调和运动障碍）的人能够自主进食。在该项目中，技术开发是在一个丰富的跨学科团队（机械工程、职业治疗、运动机能学、物理治疗）中进行的，与潜在用户和临床专家一起使用以用户为中心的迭代方法。********************