

Digital Hand Tremor Assessment - kumarski
http://www.christopherlsmith.com/projectblog/2014/5/13/hand-tremor-analysis

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smoyer
I inherited tremors ... mine aren't always present and when I have them
they're relatively minor. The bad news is that I can see how they progress by
watching my mom's tremors. I'm pretty sure I won't be drawing or even writing
in another 20-25 years.

So what I'm wondering is whether this "test" can be adapted to become an
"exercise". Will practicing with the test for some number of minutes a day
condition my hands to stay more tremor free? That might be an interesting body
hack.

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te_platt
The quick answer is probably not. Tremors run in my family and I have them
pretty bad - using a fork with my left hand is iffy for me. The tremors are
not a matter of weakness.

For modest tremors you may want to look into the drug Propranolol. I've used
it and it helps but has side effects - for me drowsiness was the worst part.
In severe cases there are surgery options. It involves the brain so it's not a
minor thing. I have an anesthesiologist friend who tells me it would be fun
but I think he means fun for him, not me.

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wavefunction
Very interesting. I "diagnosed" (not a doctor) my father's early-stage
Parkinson's a few years back when I went home for the holidays and noticed a
resting tremor in the classic "pill-rolling" motion. No one had mentioned
anything to him about it and a resting tremor is unlikely to be noticed by the
sufferer.

I got him to see a neurologist, whose more accurate and professional testing
confirmed my concerns. But this looks like a great early-warning system.

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zavulon
Not to hijack the thread, but I really like a "tremor-stabilizing spoon"
mentioned in the article:
[https://www.liftlabsdesign.com/](https://www.liftlabsdesign.com/). Will look
into for someone I know with a tremor.

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chriscls
Hey Zavulon, Chris from the blog here. Glad you found the link. I found their
technology interesting as well, and so close to creating real human value, its
inspiring.

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spike021
I'm 21 years old and inherited Essential Tremor from my grandfather. They're
definitely noticeable normally, but can get worse during a caffeine or
adrenaline high (also if anxious about something). It makes taking notes
during a lecture or handwriting for a long test kind of difficult. Answers get
messy, so professors can't always read everything. Either that, or I try to
slow down my pace, but then that ends up using more time than I have.

I think there's a long way to go until there's a "cure" or way of treating it,
but the work you've put in will hopefully be prove useful to the research
community. Thanks Chris for taking the time to work on this cool project.

~~~
chriscls
Thanks spike, hopefully research comes a long way in the near future to
understand the root cause and address it in some way.

