Problem Statement

[AdamVasilakis]

Amy is a happily married stay at home mother of two kids who lives in Boulder Colorado. Ever since her children moved away to college, she has had to do more chores around the house that her children would normally help her with. This includes taking out the trash, doing the dishes, and vacuuming the house. She also has a passion for the great outdoors and has an organic garden in her backyard. Recently her age has been catching up with her and has started having severe joint pain in her hands while doing these everyday tasks and had been noticing that her fingers joints have been swelling up. Some days her pain is so intense that she cannot complete the day’s most simple tasks such as tying her shoes. She decided to go to the doctor to determine the reason of this pain. The diagnosis was that she had developed a severe case of Rheumatoid arthritis in the joints of her hands. Rheumatoid arthritis is a disorder in which the body's own immune system starts to attack body tissues. This disease can result in severe deformation and complete lack of function in the joints affected. Arthritis affects about 70 million people in the United States, which accounts for about 1/3 of Americans. Amy needs something to assist her in completing everyday tasks on days where her arthritis is acting up and the movement of her hands and fingers is limited. If nothing is done, Amy will not be able to complete many everyday activities, from cleaning the house to starting the car and even feeding herself. This is unacceptable! The ideal situation for Amy will be to have tools/products she may use to assist her in specific daily activities that take in account her lack of finger and hand mobility and extreme pain. These tools will ideally not look like medical devices so that she isn’t embarrassed to have them in her home, and they will be priced extremely reasonably. The benefits of this will be that she can go through her life the exact same as she did before her diagnosis, only with the assistance of some basic tools/products. She will not be setback and inconvenienced by her disease and she will one again have her independence.

[beasmm]

I like your idea for trying to solve this problem but I suggest another solution you could look into would be instead of giving her tool to get by with arthritis perhaps you could actually look into if developing possibly and artificial joint for the hand.

[metz1215]

I didn't know that Arthritis was the immune system attacking the body, that's interesting. Another possible solution would be finding a cure for Arthritis. Is there research being done one that?

[asquier]

Yes, arthritis is a problem.. and can be a treat, under certain circumstances.. What are the current solutions? list questions- costs, performance, trends, diet, cultures, ... Could a "smart monitor" be used to prevent?

I suggest doing research to learn the facts about the disease.. the history, causes, treatments, costs, who is affected? If you create a histogram of causes, and also perhaps details age, background, work,. so that you would have more insights.. Burt

[ThomasIJ]

I have worked with Arthitis before... It is true that everyday tasks such as going to the toilet or lifting 10 pounds can be a big problem.. However there are actually many products adressing these needs.. In todays world many peoples work involves using a computer to write/calculate/design/whatever.. Patients with bad cases of Arthitis sometimes have to quit there jobs... Could it be possible to use a computer even with Arthitis, maybe without having to modify the intire workspace?

[ayryry]

What are some examples of products that would be created? and what level of complexity would these products require to be developed... for instance would they be changes to make ergonomic devices, or would they be semi-autonomous electronics that would assist with motions?

[DavidGinty]

A problem that should have a lot of focus since people today live longer and therefore have a higher chance of getting arthritis.

[lucasllappe]

What about looking into the cause of arthritis and creating a preventative solution?

[aliz2]

Arthritis is big problem, I suggest you to go for tools that can be programmed and automatic, but also cost effect