What if there was a method to completely avoid freezing?

To assist people with Parkinson's disease in walking without freezing, researchers from Boston University Sargent College of Health & Rehabilitation Sciences and Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) used a soft, wearable robot that is placed around the tightened hips to gently press the hips when the leg swings.

The patient may walk with a longer stride thanks to the robotic garment, which is placed around the thighs and hips and gently presses the hips when the leg swings, helping the patient to achieve a longer stride.
The wearer was able to walk faster and farther than they could have without the assistance of the garment because the technology totally removed their freezing while they were indoors.

Conor Walsh, the Paul A. Maeder Professor of Engineering and Applied Sciences at SEAS and co-corresponding author of thestudy,y stated that it was found that the small amount of mechanical assistance from the wearable robot made an intermediate effect and consistently helped improve walking across a range of conditions for the individual.

The research showed the potential of soft robotics used to treat the dangrous symptoms of Parkinson disease, giving people the ability to regain both their mobility and independence.

The research is published in Nature Medicine.

Walsh's Biodesign Lab at SEAS has been developing technologies to improve life.

The Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering supported some of those technologies, including an exosuit for post-stroke gait retraining, and Harvard's Office of Technology Development arranged a license arrangement with ReWalk Robotics to commercialize the technology.

SEAS and Sargent College received a grant from the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative to support the development and translation of next-generation robotics and wearable technologies in 2022. The Move Lab's goal is to support advancements in human performance and enhance them by providing the R&D infrastructure, funding, collaborative space, and experience needed to transform promising research into mature technologies that can be translated through industry partnerships, which serves as the focal point for the research.

Three months were spent by the team working with a 73-year-old man who had Parkinson’s disease and had significant and incapacitating freezing episodes more than ten times a day. Despite using both surgical and pharmaceutical treatments, he still had frequent falls, making him rely on a scooter to move around and prevent him from walking around his community.

In previous research, Walsh and his team made use of human-in-the-loop optimization to demonstrate that a soft, wearable device can be used to augment hip flexion and assist in swinging the leg forward to provide an efficient approach to reducing energy expenditure during walking in healthy individuals.

The researchers addressed freezing using the same approach. It is worn around the waist and thighs, and it is powered by actuators and sensors. With the motion data collected by the sensor, algorithms determine the phase of gait and produce assistive forces in sync with the muscle contraction.

The result was immediate. The patient was able to walk without freezing indoors and with just sporadic episodes outdoors without the need for any extra training. Without the gadget, he was also able to walk and talk without freezing, which was unusual.

The team was quite thrilled to observe how the technology affected the subjects' gait," stated Jinsoo Kim, a co-lead author of the study and a former Ph.D. candidate at SEAS.

Ellis went on to say, "We don't really know why this approach works so well because we don't really understand freezing." This study, however, points out the potential benefits of approaching gait freezing from the "bottom-up" rather than the "top-down" perspective. The recovery to nearly normal biomechanics alters the peripheral gait dynamics and may influence the processing of central gait control.

When hiking in the winter, you need a totally different strategy, which is different from hiking during the summer season, and this is because the terrain is a little harder. However, it allows us to fully engage with the living environment around us. It is a part of our long history.

Prioritizing safety is very important, especially when traveling with people of varying ages and skill levels, such as elderly relatives or young children. For everyone to have fun and stay safe, it's important to have the right equipment and mindset.

Make sure you are well-prepared ahead of time, particularly if you will be going with individuals of varying levels of fitness. Carefully prepare your itinerary.

Elderly or very young people are more susceptible to freezing temperatures, and hiking in the winter can be more physically demanding. Winter conditions can be harder on the heart than a perfectly-temperatured day," explains Harris. Consider the physical limitations of each member of your group and allow them to guide your actions. The goal of the exercise is to have fun, not to punish yourself.

Dr. Harris suggests that you plan your route in terms of knowing the distance, height, and route. You should also review the local forecast for the hiking area and consider factors like wind speed and chill. The weather can change drastically in an hour, especially at higher elevations, so be aware of what to expect in terms of temperature and precipitation.

Make sure you know if you'll have access to emergency cell coverage if anything goes wrong.

It is 2024, and if you are thinking of starting a new fitness challenge, eat healthier to improve your health. It is a great decision and step to take. Just so you know, there is nothing wrong with doing better or setting good goals.

There are few medical treatments that have shown the health benefits of exercising regularly. You need to decide what type of exercise is best for you, but how do you decide? You can get advice from your doctor or your personal trainer. It is also good to educate yourself about fitness by reading books or following trusted exercise classes.

Many people always scroll through social media, seeing lots of engaging fitspirational posts, which might not always be the best strategy. A new study suggests that you should rethink this strategy.

Fitspiration is a social media post that is made with the intention of inspiring physical fitness and promoting good health. You can find fitspirational posts on different popular social media sites like TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Tumblr, and YouTube. They usually include beautiful images and videos of people giving advice on food and exercise, as well as inspirational sayings and quotes.

If you search for #fitspiration (or related hashtags like #fitspo) on Instagram alone, you will see close to 100 million posts at the moment. The majority of them show pictures of fit, attractive, and slender ladies working out while discussing fitness and maximizing health.

The pro-fitness message that millions of individuals see might have positive benefits. But the message needs to be credible and from a valid source. Importantly, posts shouldn't provide false, damaging, or ineffective information. Which is the problem with fitpiration.

Social media fitness has effects, and according to research, when you are focused on realistic exercise goals rather than appearance, These posts have their sides and downsides for those watching, which include:

Being dissatisfied with their body

Poor mood and negative false feelings

Thinking they are not attractive

Accepting that being thin is ideal and the only beauty standard accepted.

More focused on their appearance than function and capability.

 

Xerosis, or dry skin, is a widespread issue in modern society that affects people of all ages, including babies. Most occurrences of dry skin in the United States are caused by one or more of the following factors:

Excessive bathing or showering, excessive scouring of the skin when washing, or harsh soaps that dissolve the protective layer of sebum are all examples of lifestyle factors that promote sebum loss. In certain situations, especially among school athletes who wash multiple times a day, the outcome is dry skin all over the body. In other situations, dry skin exclusively affects the hands, such as in health care professionals, food handlers, house cleaners, homemakers, moms with diapered children, and others who wash their hands regularly.

Extreme environmental circumstances can overcome the skin's natural protective barrier, which causes water to evaporate. This is a major cause of dry skin in those who live in sun-drenched desert conditions, particularly in portions of the Southwest in the united state of America.

Reduced sebum production — Because the number and activity of sebaceous glands in the skin tend to decrease with age, this is frequently a factor in the elderly.

In the northern United States, dry indoor air can also induce dry skin and "winter itch," especially in those who utilize forced-air heating systems. Frequent exposure to wind and sun among outdoor athletes can drain water from the skin, leaving it uncomfortable and dry. Because the chemical composition of pool water pulls moisture from the body, even swimmers might have dry skin.

Dry skin is a common complaint among diabetics and those with skin allergies (atopic dermatitis). It can also be a sign of hypothyroidism, renal failure, or Sjögren's disease in rare cases. Furthermore, dry skin can occur as a side effect of many medications, particularly topical acne treatments.