Man invents wearable to help women with cerebral palsy

Sarah realised leaning heavily on her left arm was taking its toll. However, she wasn’t able to couldn’t find a device to help. That’s when she contacted Remap, a charity that helps people with disabilities overcome their problems and to build amazing gadgets, big or small depending on what someone's problem is, helping them to be more independent.

“And they do that by using volunteers like Akshaya all over the UK who give their time freely to build these amazing gadgets, whether it's something really small like mine was, or one of the projects they did last year was enabling a wheelchair user to go up Mount Snowdon”, the patient explained.

So Akshaya came up with a wearable: a light, rechargeable electronic armband with a pressure-sensitive alarm that would make Sarah straighten up, which helps to improve her posture while using a computer.

“Sarah finds that due to lack of core muscle strength she leans too heavily on her left arm when she is working on her computer. This causes her shoulder problems and pain, so she needed something to remind her to correct her posture and sit upright. If she leans too heavily on it for too long, an alarm sounds which reminds her to adjust her posture. The settings can be changed as her core strength improves, so it should bring benefits to her overall health in the longer term”, the inventor described.

This gadget led the engineer to win the Wolff Award at Remap’s National Award.

Adapted from: https://bbc.in/2JcOnn1
https://bbc.in/32xJgp7
https://bit.ly/2Mms8g7

More info: https://www.remap.org.uk/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EcqiCN2JHxQ