Adapted Feeding Utensils for People With Parkinson's-Related or Essential Tremor.

OBJECTIVE

Our objective was to evaluate the effectiveness of four adapted feeding utensils with participants with essential tremor (ET) or tremor related to Parkinson's disease (PD).

METHOD: Participants performed a simulated feeding task under five conditions: (1) standard spoon (control condition), (2) weighted spoon with standard handle, (3) weighted spoon with built-up handle, (4) swivel spoon, and (5) Liftware Steady™ spoon, a product using active tremor cancellation technology. Participants rated each adapted utensil in comparison with the standard spoon regarding performance, ease of use, speed, neatness, and aesthetics.

RESULTS

Participants preferred the Liftware Steady spoon and weighted spoon with standard handle. Friedman's test did not reveal statistically significant differences in ratings between the two preferred utensils.

CONCLUSION

Participants had varied reactions to the different adaptive utensils and gave different reasons for preferences. These findings support the need for people with tremor related to ET or PD to have access to trial use of all four devices assessed in this study.