Making Stroke Patients' Lives Worse with Science

My ol' Dad suffered a heart attack and a major stroke immediately after with the consequence of some paralysis on one side of his body but, much worse for a university professor, his ability to speak was blown out by it.

There was not so much damage to his heart and doctors kept him alive and relatively well for about another fifteen years, during much of which time he was ardently skiing.  However, the impact from the stroke plagued him for all that time although to a lessening degree as time passed.


There are few things I imagine he would have appreciated less than a full-body sensor suit which analyzed his movements.

The INTERACTION system.

Credit: Image courtesy of University of Twente

From now on it will be possible to accurately monitor and analyse how stroke patients move during everyday life.  This involves the use of a new suit fitted with 41 sensors, plus the infrastructure needed to transmit, store and process all of the data collected.  This technology and information will make it possible to improve the rehabilitation process and cut healthcare costs.  Bart Klaassen developed the system together with an international team of engineers and healthcare professionals.  He will defend his thesis (which is based on this research) on 30 November, at the University of Twente.  "The technology is finally ready."

Science Daily:  At long last, stroke patients can be monitored at home, using a sensor suit

You really don't need to know my ol' Dad to get the view of this since I doubt any old guy is going to react at all enthusiastically about using this thing.  While it would have been of little or no benefit to him, I do see a practical application in people with, perhaps, sports injuries as conceivably the suit could be beneficial during that course of physical therapy.

It's not clear how this suit will 'cut healthcare costs' and it seems extremely unlikely that's true when this high-tech suit is required along with software to analyze the results and specialists who know what the results mean.  However, for physical therapy it might be worth it.

Here's a hot tip as well on how to give yourself a stroke and the progenitors behind it are usually bad diet and low exercise.  (Science Daily:  Sedentary lifestyle may impair academic performance in boys)

You can see that sedentary phenomenon in young people with video gamers and probably other groups as well and likely you have seen them, possibly in your own life.  When you have thrown at them 'you're wasting your mind,' it probably won't get much reaction since, ask anyone, these games are a gas to play.  The science apparently studies the extent of the mind wastage and you already know the consequences or at least some of them from a sedentary lifestyle (i.e. early death).

Here's where we have the generic lament of Old Fuckers in which we wail, woe, woe, woe, I remember when my parents turned me out in the morning and no-one came back until sundown.  It was like that for all the kids and it was grand.  For many of the Old Fuckers, if choosing between a video game and a bicycle, they will probably go for the bike.