This year has seen several new Parkinson’s apps arrive on the market, adding to the ever-growing enthusiasm in the Parkinson’s community for using technology to help the condition. We take a look at three recent Parkinson’s apps to arrive on the scene, covering information-sharing, music and symptom tracking.
Turnto
Turnto is an innovative, free health app bringing together real-time treatment breakthroughs and clinical trial findings, all in one easy to navigate portal. The app was originally launched by Founder and CEO, Jessica Dove London, in response to the difficulty accessing any health breakthrough information after her son was diagnosed with a rare type of Cerebral Palsy. Recently the Turnto app has grown to help serve the Parkinson’s community, allowing you to find ‘everything and anything about Parkinson’s in one place.’
Here you can get access to easy-to-understand summaries of new medical research, the ‘full picture’ real treatment reviews from users, advice from other people living with Parkinson’s and personalised updates to your phone or tablet each day.
Jessica explains: “Health breakthrough information is like a living thing. It’s living in research, living in the patient community who are often trying things years ahead of the research, it’s living in the amazing clinicians and amazing researchers, and it can take many years for treatments or interventions to be translated to the community. We want to speed that up together.”
Turnto is available to download via the Google Play Store or the Apple App Store.
SingApp: Parkinson’s
Passionate about the health and wellbeing benefits of singing for people living with Parkinson’s, MediSing has been holding group online singing sessions since 2014. Expanding on this, they have now launched an interactive singing app to work alongside in-person singing classes or for those who can’t attend classes. Developed in collaboration with speech-language therapists and people living with Parkinson’s, the easy-to-use app features songs and vocal exercises to help provide fun daily strength-building workouts for the voice. This collaborative effort is at the heart of the app with Nicola Wydenbach, Director of Training at Sing to Beat Parkinson’s, explaining: “The Parkinson’s community have been fundamental in the co-creation of this app.”
SingApp: Parkinson’s is available to buy and download for £7.99 via the Google Play Store or the Apple App Store.
Parkinson’s ON
Parkinson’s ON is a simple, no-nonsense, free app designed to empower people to take control of their Parkinson’s. Developed and self-funded by Kuhan Pushparatnam, a person with Parkinson’s and co-host of the 2 Parkies in a Pod podcast, it provides a digital solution to many of the day-to-day issues he encountered.
“I’ve always believed tech, when done right, can be a great enabler in daily life, but despite a growing number of apps launched in recent years, Parkinson’s is still under-served compared to other conditions,” he says. “So I set out to build a simple, ‘Parky-friendly’ app that would not only empower me, but ultimately allow for a better, more informed quality of care.”
The app touches on three key themes: ON Time (helping users keep on top of medication with reminders and logs), ON Track (for users to track their their activity levels and symptoms) and ON Top (self-care content and access to the exclusive podcast.)
What really makes Parkinson’s ON unique is that it is designed by and for people with Parkinson’s. And the initial reception has been overwhelmingly positive, with 92% of people who trialled the app reporting feeling more ‘empowered’ as a result.
Parkinson’s ON is available to download via the Google Play Store or the Apple App Store.
