System Identification of Wrist Stiffness in Parkinson's Disease Patients

The purpose of this work is to investigate the characteristics of motor control systems in Parkinson's disease patients. ARMAX system identification was performed to identify the intrinsic and reflexive, the non-controllable and controllable, components of wrist stiffness, enabling a better understanding of the problems associated with Parkinson's disease. The results show that the intrinsic stiffness dynamics represent the vast majority of the total stiffness in the wrist joint and that the reflexive stiffness dynamics are attributable to a tremor commonly found in Parkinson's disease patients. It was found that Parkinsonian rigidity, a symptom of Parkinson's disease, interferes with the known and traditional methods for separating intrinsic and reflexive components. Resolving this problem could lead to early detection of Parkinson's disease in patients not exhibiting typical symptoms, analytical measurement of the severity of the disease, and as a testing mechanism for the effectiveness of new medicines