We’ve had lots of positive feedback about how the S’up spoon has helped people, and how it has allowed them greater independence, which always encourages us. We know from our feedback that it has helped people who, unfortunately have shaky hands for one or more of the following reasons.
Parkinson’s Disease
One group of people who have benefitted from using the S’up spoon are those people who have Parkinson’s Disease. This is because one of the symptoms of Parkinson’s Disease is involuntary shaking of particular parts of the body. Sadly, it’s thought around 1 in 500 people are affected by Parkinson’s disease, which means there are an estimated 127,000 people in the UK with the condition.
Most people with Parkinson’s start to develop symptoms when they’re over 50, although around 1 in 20 people with the condition first experience symptoms when they’re under 40. Men are slightly more likely to get Parkinson’s disease than women.
For further information see: www.nhs.uk/conditions/Parkinsons-disease and www.parkinsons.org.uk
Essential Tremor
Essential Tremor is a nerve disorder characterized by uncontrollable shaking, or “tremors,” in different parts and on different sides of the body. Areas affected often include the hands, arms, head, larynx (voice box), tongue, and chin. Essential tremor may affect the head and voice and Essential tremor is faster than the tremor of Parkinson’s disease. For more information see: www.tremor.org.uk.
Multiple sclerosis (MS)
Multiple sclerosis can cause an ‘intention tremor’ which is slightly different from other forms of tremor in that it is most pronounced when the individual is moving. In particular an intention tremor will cause shaking when the patient moves toward the end of the movement. For further information see: www.mssociety.org.uk.
Brain Damage
A range of different types of brain damage can all cause shaking and this can have a range of different causes as well as various different symptoms. Common causes of brain damage are injury, stroke and brain tumour. For more information see: https://www.headway.org.uk.
Although we have not had any feedback from people who have the following conditions, we feel there are no reasons why the S’up spoon may be able to help them physically with eating depending on what part of their body shakes.
Dystonic tremor is a type of tremor which occurs in conjunction with dystonia, a neurological disorder where incorrect messages from the brain cause muscles to be over-active resulting abnormal postures or unwanted movement. Dystonic tremor usually appears in young adulthood or mid-life. For more information see: http://www.dystonia.org.uk.
Huntington’s disease
Huntington’s disease is a hereditary condition in which your brain’s nerve cells gradually break down. One of the most obvious first symptoms is movement disorder. The spoon may be able to help here. For more information see: https://www.hda.org.uk.
Please let us know if you have found the spoon useful and the condition you have is not mentioned here.
