According to a story from ucf.edu, a new partnership between Mayo Clinic and Limbitless Solutions is planning initiate a new clinical trial that aims to improve mobility options for patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a rare, fatal, neurodegenerative disease. This technology is expected to allow patients to control a wheelchair using just their facial muscles. The Mayo Clinic is currently in the process of evaluating the new tech, which is being nicknamed Project Xavier after Professor Charles Xavier from X-Men; the character is typically portrayed in a wheelchair of some kind.
About Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS)
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, otherwise known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, is a rare, degenerative disease that causes the death of nerve cells associated with the voluntary muscles. Little is known about the origins of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, with no definitive cause in about 95 percent of cases. The remaining five percent appear to inherit the disease from their parents. Symptoms initially include loss of coordination, muscle weakness and atrophy, muscle stiffness and cramping, and trouble speaking, breathing, or swallowing. These symptoms worsen steadily over time; most patients die because of respiratory complications. Treatment is mostly symptomatic and the medication riluzole can briefly prolong life. Life expectancy after diagnosis ranges from two to four years, but some patients can survive for substantially longer. To learn more about amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, click here.
Improving Mobility for the Disabled
The approach involves the use of electromyography sensors. These are positioned on the temporalis muscles of the patient. This should allow a patient to control the chair with clenches of their jaw. Different clenches correspond to moving the chair in different directions. Project Xavier also has the potential to assist other patients with mobility limitations beyond just amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.
Facial muscles were selected as the method of control because they are one of the last muscle groups that patients can still control, meaning that even patients with advanced disease can benefit from Project Xavier. The muscle clenches used to control the chair are meant to be relatively intuitive; the partners hope that patients will be able to use the controls effectively with just a minimum of practice.
