Analysis of Alternating Hand Movement in Parkinson’s Disease Patients

Abstract

In Parkinson’s disease the symptoms of motor disability predominate, generating consequences in their quality of life, psychological, social and economic stability. The Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale is considered as a clinical evaluation method, that is a compendium of subjective interpretations. Alternatively a system called LEEPark is proposed, capable of quantifying the speed of the test of Alternating Hand Movement. The system uses Kinect V2 for data acquisition and features extraction, the results are stored in a database that is subjected to statistical analysis, grouped by degree of disease and by upper extremities. The analysis methods used were: ANOVA, linear regression and quantification of improvement, applied to data collected during 6 sessions from 6 patients: 4 with Parkinson’s disease and 2 control subjects. The results showed contrasts in hand speed, being able to find significant differences between grade 1 and 2 of the disease. It was also possible to establish the decrease in speed as the degree of disease progresses and the percentage of improvement when comparing the effects of medication on the speed of the hands.