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.