This New Wearable Tech Aims to Tackle TremorsThis New Wearable Tech Aims to Tackle Tremors

Trequant wants to help tremor patients quantify their disease to help them get better control over their lives.

Arundhati Parmar

Inside a classic-looking watch lurks a digital health wearable that can help patients with tremor quantify that problem and get better control over their lives.

That is the vision of Palo Alto, CA-based Trequant. On May 10, the startup will launch a Kickstarter campaign to raise $35,000 which can help to bring its final prototype to the market.

The consumer device is worn on the wrist which is afflicted with tremors, and communicates with a companion mobile app where data can be recorded, tracked and analyzed. The patient also gets the ability to connect with a wider world of patients suffering similar challenges.

While the app can record a tremor, so can the watch. It can be set up to record tremors using a double tap mechanism, explained Trequant's founder Fawad Bhatti in an email.

The medical grade sensors incorporated in the watch are capable of measuring up to 1 mm accuracy of tremor intensity and up to 0.1 Hz of tremor frequency, he noted.

The Trequant watch uses wireless chips from RF Digital Corp to transfer data using Bluetooth low energy (BLE). The watch also has an accelerometer and a gyroscope to measure activity. That allows user to compare tremors based on different activities.  

In addition to recording and tracking tremors, the app can be set up to provide medication reminders as well.

In an effort to help elderly patients who may not feel entirely comfortable in viewing data on a smartphone screen, the company also offers a BLE USB device that can be plugged into a laptop.

The current device is meant strictly for consumers. But it will be interesting to see what form it takes in the future, and whether the goal is essentially to manage the disease and learn more about it or to actually treat it. Some clinical wearables have made the leap from management and patient engagement to a therapy for the disease.

So far, treatment of tremors and movement disorders often involves the use of drugs; physical or occupational therapy; or even surgery to implant a deep brain stimulation device that uses electrical stimulation to control the tremors. 

Arundhati Parmar is a senior editor at UBM.

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