Category: Self-tracking

Neuroscience – theory and practice

I’m sure most of you have seen me write once or twice before that PD is a very complex disease, but it bears repeating: PD is a very complex disease! Let me explain to those of you lucky enough not to know first hand (or by proxy, like my husband and daughter do). If you’ve…… Continue reading Neuroscience – theory and practice

The Burden of Tracking

I have called myself a self-tracker since the first time I heard the word. The concept of using technology to collect data about myself and then analysing that data to better understand different aspects of myself and my surroundings has always resonated strongly with me, both as an engineer and as a researcher. My self-tracking…… Continue reading The Burden of Tracking

Lena increased her daily “feel-well-time” from three to ten hours

For the last year or so I’ve been working in a project funded by the Swedish government’s national strategy to treat and prevent chronic diseases. We call the project “Dagens patient” (“Patient daily” in English) and you can read about it here. “Dagens patient” is based on my work around self-monitoring my Parkinson’s and we…… Continue reading Lena increased her daily “feel-well-time” from three to ten hours

At Quantified Self, I forget I have Parkinson’s

If I could only attend one conference a year, I know exactly which one I would choose: Quantified Self Europe. I have a very special relationship with the Quantified Self Europe conference in Amsterdam. In fact, I actually wrote my first two posts on this blog during the first QS Europe conference in November 2011…… Continue reading At Quantified Self, I forget I have Parkinson’s

PD Bootcamp video

My week at the neurorehabilitation centre CNS in Portugal was fantastic and I can’t thank the physiotherapist Josefa and her colleagues enough for sharing their skills and encouragement. I also want to thank Jon for literally pushing me to accomplish more than I thought I could (see video below or link to video here at 1:25) and…… Continue reading PD Bootcamp video

Victory is mine!

On our 6th day at the centre for neurorehabilitation in Portugal, CNS, it was time for evaluation and reflection. How much can you actually achieve in just 5 days of training? We were about to find out… Josefa, the Portuguese physiotherapist who loves to complicate things (but only if it’s useful), put us on the…… Continue reading Victory is mine!

How to make it stick?

Day 5

These last five days at the centre for neurorehabilitation CNS in Portugal have been eye-opening and extremely hard work, I have learnt so much and had so much fun. You can read about the previous days here, here, and here. There has been Nordic walking gait training, balance exercises, home training program, walking and even…… Continue reading How to make it stick?

“Run Parkie, run!”

The “internal feedback system” of people with Parkinson’s does not function properly. I have no idea what the neuroscientific explanation is but I think that our body awareness is seriously flawed. We simply don’t know where we have our arms and legs or how we use them, that is why we walk in a strange…… Continue reading “Run Parkie, run!”

Motivation to fight Parkinson’s

I have been trying to think of an appropriate symbol for Parkinson’s and finally I have found what I think is the perfect representation: a snail. People with Parkinson’s move slowly, as does the disease itself, but often we are persistent and get where we want in the end, very much like our little mollusc…… Continue reading Motivation to fight Parkinson’s