The effect of vibrotactile somatosensory stimulation on Parkinson’s tremor

This collection contains raw data, derivatives and scripts used for the research project "The effect of vibrotactile stimulation on tremor in Parkinson’s disease", published in Clinical Neurophysiology as "A prospective controlled study of a wearable rhythmic vibrotactile device for tremor in Parkinson’s disease" (CLINPH2010660). In specific, the collection contains the following data of 30 people with Parkinson’s disease (PD):
Relevant clinical data (MDS-Unified PD rating scale, Montreal cognitive assessment, Graduated tuning fork test, demographics), raw surface electromyography and tri-axial accelerometry data, as acquired with Brainvision Recorder (Vers. 1.23.0001, Brain Products GmbH, Gilching, Germany). Raw output data of the vibratory stimulation device (Vyblife system; Vibro Health Inc., 2020). Derivatives and scripts of all planned and exploratory analyses described in the published article.

Scientific background of the collection:
Tremor in Parkinson’s disease (PD) does not always respond to dopaminergic medication, therefore new treatment strategies are needed. Preliminary evidence has suggested that manipulation of peripheral afferents may reduce tremor amplitude, but existing research is inconclusive and has not been properly controlled. Here, we explored the effects of peripheral vibrotactile stimulation on PD tremor using a within-subjects controlled design.

Methods used to collect the data in this collection:
Vibrotactile stimulation (open-loop) was applied to the most affected wrist of 30 people with Parkinson’s disease. Four stimulation conditions were compared: tremor frequency (TF), 1.5*TF, 80 Hz stimulation, and sham.
We tested the effect of these stimulation conditions on tremor power (measured with accelerometry) during three contexts: rest tremor, rest tremor during cognitive load, and postural tremor.
Entrainment between tremor and stimulation was tested using complex phase-locking value and tremor stability index.
Effects of vibrotactile stimulation on bradykinesia were tested in a keyboard tapping test.