Swedish scientists have claimed that Parkinson’s disease patients can seek significant benefits with the help of a wearable device that stimulates the sense of balance with electric noise.

A portable pocket-sized vestibular, portable pocket-sized vestibular, is the new creation of scientists from the University of Gothenburg's Sahlgrenska Academy to improve the lives of Parkinson’s sufferers.

Associate Professor Filip Bergquist, who led the research, said the device was built similar to the TENS (Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation) therapy, which is used to provide relief from pain like during child birth.

“The difference is that we use a particular current profile which you can stimulate the balance organs with without creating a balance disturbance. So you do not get the impression that the world is moving or that you are moving, you actually do not feel anything”, Bergquist explained.

Decline in the levels of the hormone dopamine caused Parkinson's disease. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter and it plays a vital role for different regions of the brain to communicate with one another. An impaired sense of balance, tremors, poor mobility, slowness and stiffness are some of the symptoms of Parkinson's disease.

Levodopa is a drug used to treat nearly all patients diagnosed with the disease. It works by boosting the production of dopamine in the brain. But with the progression of Parkinson's disease, the effectiveness of oral levodopa reduces and the patient becomes likely to experience involuntary movements, or dyskinesia.

Researchers are making efforts to find a treatment for movement disorders through this device where Levodopa is not enough, especially in patients with Parkinson's disease where walking and balance is a big problem. Electrical stimulation of the vestibular organs is not only restricted to Parkinson's disease as it could provide help for other conditions with poor balance.