Members of the Gers France Parkinson committee were able to discover this Tuesday, June 6 an innovative device for walking assistance. “BeatMove” uses music to activate areas of the brain that trigger movement.
Installed in the room of the Ortholan garden in Auch, a dozen members of the Gersois committee of France Parkinson listen to the explanations of Antoine Dufourneau. The commercial of the company BeatHealth presents the device that his company has developed: BeatMove. This tool aims to help people with Parkinson’s disease to walk.
Committee members tested the device.
For this, the device uses music. “Thanks to two sensors attached to the ankles, the application identifies your walking pace,” says Antoine Dufourneau. It then broadcasts a song, among more than 1000 recorded on the telephone, which corresponds to the rhythm of the steps of the person. “In fact, music provides another solution to create movement. It releases dopamine, which is lacking in patients with Parkinson’s disease, and allows phase synchronization”.
The device is available for rental.
According to the commercial and studies carried out, after one month, the benefits would already be observed in patients: increased pace of steps, reduced fatigue, increased overall well-being. “And if we stop, does the progress remain?” asks a person present at the meeting. Antoine Dufourneau confirms.
Headphones in their ears, the members of the committee took a few steps in the garden of Ortholan.
After the theory, place to practice: the members of the association try the device, first in the adjoining room, then in the garden of Ortholan. Headphones in their ears, the president of the Gers committee, Henri Pasquet, sets off at a brisk pace into the green space, to the sound of Jean-Jacques Goldman. Before putting the devices back in their packaging and taking the time to reflect.