SteadyScrib may help Parkinson's patients write despite hand tremors

BOSTON -- A new device may help patients with Parkinson's maintain their ability to write.

Patients with Parkinson's disease suffer from uncontrollable movements and hand tremors, and currently, there are no devices to help these patients with writing.

But two women entrepreneurs at Northwestern University have developed SteadyScrib, a special writing utensil, and clipboard which makes it easier for patients with Parkinson's to put pen to paper. 

The pen is weighted and has a wide grip and magnets that draw it to a galvanized steel clipboard where paper is held in place. This design helps reduce the effect of shaking and tremors as the pen moves along the clipboard. The team hopes to release the pen at the end of the year. 

Mallika Marshall, MD

Mallika Marshall, MD is an Emmy-award-winning journalist and physician who has served as the HealthWatch Reporter for CBS Boston/WBZ-TV for over 20 years. A practicing physician Board Certified in both Internal Medicine and Pediatrics, Dr. Marshall serves on staff at Harvard Medical School and practices at Massachusetts General Hospital at the MGH Chelsea Urgent Care and the MGH Revere Health Center, where she is currently working on the frontlines caring for patients with COVID-19. She is also a host and contributing editor for Harvard Health Publications (HHP), the publishing division of Harvard Medical School.

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