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# # # # Novel treatments for Parkinson’s are being proposed on a regular basis, and I really like the way many are based on some pretty left field ideas (light buckets, I’m thinking of you here). Thinking outside the box is important to innovation and progress. And some of those unconventional approaches are backed not only by historical precedent, but also scientific research. Recently, researchers at Stanford University have presented just such an idea: It involves vibrating gloves. In today’s post, we will explore what research has been conducted on vibrating hands in Parkinson’s, and discuss what comes next. # # # # |
Jean-Martin Charcot. Source: Wikipedia
There are few figures in the history of neurology as revered as Jean-Martin Charcot.
Widely considered the ‘Father of neurology’ and the ‘Napoleon of the neuroses‘, the importance of Charcot’s contribution to modern medicine is definitely not up for debate. One only needs to read the names of the students that he taught at the Salpêtrière Hospital (in Paris) to appreciate that everyone who became someone in the field of neurology passed through his classes.
Those names include Sigmund Freud (the founder of psychoanalysis), Joseph Babinski, Pierre Janet, Pierre Marie, Albert Londe, Charles-Joseph Bouchard, Georges Gilles de la Tourette (he of Tourette syndrome), Alfred Binet (inventor of the first intelligence test), and Albert Pitres.
The mere fact that these students of Charcot all have Wikipedia pages should speak volumes to his impact on the field. Heck, even the great William James – one of the founding fathers of Psychology – travelled all the way from America just to sit in on Charcot’s classes.
Charcot was one of the most sought-after instructors in all of Europe, and he is immortalised in a painting by André Brouillet:
“Une leçon clinique à la Salpêtrière“ by André Brouillet (Source: Wikipedia)
Cool. But what does monsieur Charcot have to do with Parkinson’s?
The Science of Parkinson's 