Functional evaluation of handgrip signals for Parkinsonian patients

This paper concerns the problem of recording and analyzing biomedical data that characterize the motor activities of the limbs in patients suffering from Parkinson's disease. The aim of this paper is the individuation of suitable parameters that are useful for detecting subjects affected by Parkinson's disease and revealing the state of the patient. Hence, a simple and inexpensive system that measures the force of palmar grip is presented and discussed, and a suitable software protocol that is able to record and manage the acquired data is developed. Finally, some biomedical parameters have been identified, characterizing the motor activities of limbs. The study of these parameters and the analysis of the correlations between the acquired data permit taking out useful information and details about the objective evaluation of Parkinson pathology, taking into account the metrological characteristics of the used measurement system.