Can laser shoes help people with Parkinson's walk?

[Kia17]

Many people with Parkinson's disease have freezing episodes when they walk. They suddenly come to a standstill and even though they want to move, they can't.

One London-based entrepreneur has come up with a solution - lasers fitted to their shoes.

bbc.co.uk/news/av/stories-4...

[Hidden]

It seems like in actual use, they will only work as intended if the person looks down very frequently while walking, but to me it seems like if you are looking down that often while walking, you could easily walk into obstacles that are up near head level and actually hurt yourself!

Art

[asmckay in reply to Hidden]

Maybe you only look down when you freeze. And many people with Parkinson's look down a lot of the time anyway. Possibly the light could be adjusted so that it comes further forward and is easily within peripheral vision. I think it could be good, given that the purpose of the light is top prompt the brain.

[walkwithpath in reply to asmckay]

Dear asmckay, thank you for your comment. You are completely right about the peripheral vision and about people looking down already. The cue is also completely adjustable to the step length of the user. Thanks again for your great input.

[walkwithpath in reply to Hidden]

Dear easilly, thanks for your comment. We find that people can see the cue in their peripheral visual. As asmckay writes below, the cue can also be set further forward, and people have a tendency to look down already. Hence, we have not found this to be a problem. Let me know if you have any questions or send us an email at [e-mail]. All the best, Lise