By Stuart McDill
TOWCESTER, England (Reuters) - A UK startup has developed a glove with a built-in spinning gyroscope that it says can help people with Parkinson's disease and Essential tremor (ET) overcome their often debilitating tremors and regain control of their hands.
Both conditions affect over 200 million people worldwide and can cause patients' hands to shake so much that everyday tasks such as eating and drinking become difficult or impossible.
GyroGear's solution, according to Gordon McCabe, GyroGear development manager, is to mount a gyroscope on the back of the hand which, much like a spinning top that will always stay upright as long as it's spinning, makes your hand stay level while the flywheel is spinning.
"Essential tremor is quite a hidden disability. You don't see how much it affects us, how our muscles hurt, the beating they take with the tremor on the move all day," said 56 year old Jenny Field, a business analyst from Towcester in England, who has Essential tremor.
"As soon as you put GyroGlove on it puts your muscles at ease because they are not under so much pressure... You can enjoy your hobbies more, you could work more effectively at typing. The GyroGlove is huge because there is not a lot out there to help us," said Field, who embroiders as a hobby.
The glove fits over the lower part of the hand, wrist and forearm, with the gyroscope concealed. Participants in GyroGear's seed round include the UK Government Future Fund and Singapore venture builder Fidelium Group among others.
The company raised $4.3 million in Phase One of Seed Round funding and Phase Two is scheduled to complete at the end of the month.