EMPOWER STUDY

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Care and research for neurological disease relies on subjective and largely descriptive tests, that can only represent a specific point in time (e.g. a short hospital consultation).  This can greatly misrepresent the disease, for example catching symptoms on a good day or varying due to the experience of the professional.  These problems contribute to the widespread delayed in accessing treatment, reported by people with neurological disease,  that can limit its effectiveness and increase disability.   

Over the last 5 years we have been developing a simple mobile phone application at the University of Cambridge, which uses a series of short interactive games, alongside some background activity monitoring of your phone, to better represent neurological disease.  It can measure problems such as balance and walking, dexterity, spasticity and fatigue.  It aims to empower the individual to take charge of assessing their condition.   

MoveMed was originally developed and tested in one neurological condition;  Degenerative Cervical Myelopathy.   As part of our ongoing development, and broader aspirations to help other neurological conditions, we are now looking to test the platform across a range of different conditions to understand whether we can measure these disabilities, and potentially whether we can help distinguish specific types.   Overall it hopes to empower the individual to take charge of measuring their disease.

The study is being conducted by MoveMed with investigators at the University of Cambridge.  MoveMed is a company formed by researchers at the University of Cambridge to further develop this technology.  The study has been given ethical approval by the University of Cambridge, Human Biology Ethics Review Board.   The study is also supported by Myelopathy.org, a DCM Charity. 

Participants would receive the mobile application to their phone (compatible with iOS or Android Smartphones), and be prompted to complete the series of games at least weekly, over a period of 12 weeks.   These games take less than 10 minutes to complete.  In addition we would ask you to provide some basic details about your neurological condition, at the start, middle and end of the 12 weeks, to allow us to understand your results.  All information is kept strictly confidential, and secure in the United Kingdom. We will share your results with you at the end of the 12 weeks.  However, remember this is an early stage research study and exactly what the mobile measurements mean remains unknown.  

The study is open to anyone with a neurological condition.  If you are interested please read the study information leaflet below, and register your interest by completing the form below.   A member of the team will then be in touch to confirm you can participate, and explain how to access the MoveMed Application.