Social media community develop new Parkinson's pill pot
KnowledgeAn innovative new pill bottle devised to make it easier to take Parkinson's medication when tremors or digit dexterity is difficult has been developed through social media.
After athlete Jimmy Choi posted to TikTok about the difficulties he has in taking his Parkinson's medication with shaking hands, the social media community set about finding a solution - and within days ideas and discussions on the app led to a physical prototype for Jimmy to test.
Initial design ideas came from videographer Brian Alldridge who posted his ideas for a bottle with a twisting base which released one pill at a time. He woke the next day to thousands of responses, and an engineer called David Axler whose 3D printer took the design from paper to prototype.
Axler has since worked with Jimmy Choi to refine the product, and he has offered 50 of the bottles freely to those who need them in exchange for a small donation to the Michael J Fox Foundation. He hopes to roll out the bottles as widely as possible, whilst keeping the patent open source so others can improve on the design.
Jimmy Choi highlights how the bottle has the potential to help millions of people who struggle to take tablets due to tremor, digit numbness or dexterity difficulties.
Read the full story or listen to an interview with Jimmy about it here.
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