Tap Test App

[johntPM]

If you're like me, you'll want to measure your Parkinson's symptoms. As part of that, I've written an app that counts the number of side to side finger taps that you can do in a set period of time. It works by you repeatedly typing q followed by p using only one finger. It should work on any computer with a keyboard, but it won't work on a tablet or smart phone. The app can be run directly (there is no need to install anything) from:

parkinsonsmeasurement.org/t...

This program doesn't store any results. If you would like your results stored so that you can see how they change with time, you can register with PDMeasure and run the test from there. See:

parkinsonsmeasurement.org/P...

Note: the results are stored anonymously, but they can be viewed by anyone.

Results and simple statistics (click on Statistics) are available immediately. These currently show:

137 people have registered and done the initial survey

71 people have done the medications survey

786 tap test results have been collected, with mean values in 30 seconds of 20.7 (left hand) and 20.4 (right hand).

John

[badboy99]

786 tap test results have been collected, with mean values in 30 seconds of 20.7 (left hand) and 20.4 (right hand).

John are the above values on/off or both?

[johntPM in reply to badboy99]

Thanks for your reply. The answer to your question is both.

I should have made it clear that the raw data needs refining before it is of any use. For instance, you can take the test at any time in your drug cycle. If you take the test in PDMeasure you are asked how long it is since your last medication. You are also asked whether you subjectively think you are on/off. This data, along with the tap scores is stored on the database (actually a simple set of files). You can access these files and, for instance, paste the data into Excel.

One of the interesting things to come out of this test is that there's a strong learning effect over a person's first 10 goes. I wonder how many clinical trials which use similar tests take this into account.

I've got a lot of graphs showing the results factored in different ways, but I haven't found a way of pasting a png file into a post. Is it possible?

John

[racerCP in reply to johntPM]

This may be naive but what is the import of tracking symptom progression and decline? Isn't it more useful to concentrate on means and modes of improvement and avoiding decline?

Just a dummy here.

[johntPM in reply to racerCP]

Tracking symptoms lets us know what therapies are working. Given that almost everyone with PD declines, slowing down the rate of decline is a worthwhile aim.

John

[Hidden in reply to racerCP]

I agree, for me I have a hard enough time avoiding or dismissing the negative

[gcorrell]

I got:

Results:

In order

left hand score 17.51

right hand score 10.14

Subjectively, I thought I did better than I actually did. According to your numbers above (20+ per) I seem to be below average on both, the right hand way below. Can you speak to this? Is there a site with quantified results?

Thanks

[gcorrell in reply to gcorrell]

Oops, I see some of my Qs are answered here.