Analysis of movement patterns aids the early detection of Parkinson's disease

Abstract

The movement patterns are characteristic for a person. The changes in his/her movement patterns indicate changes in his/her state. Several diseases result in well distinguishable deviation from normal movement patterns. The deviation starts with subtle changes; our aim is to detect these changes and thus aid the early diagnosis of neurological diseases. We have been using a passive marker based motion analyzer (PRIMAS) to record the movement patterns defined by neurologists. Healthy subjects and Parkinsonian patients participated is the tests. We suggest a measurement set-up and evaluation algorithms that fit to the movement patterns to be analyzed.