Ever since there is increased usage of devices such as mobile phones, personal computers, tablets – which was aggravated due to the Work-From-Home culture thanks to Covid19 – people of all age groups are facing many neck problems.
A scientific survey under physiotherapy conducted on various patients showed that 6 out of 10 people face neck related problems. A majority of these people do not visit or are not able to visit a doctor to get their problems checked due to negligence, lack of time or lack of money to be able to afford a physiotherapist. This behaviour causes long term damage to their neck muscles.
Parth Atulkumar Shah, Assistant Professor & Manager Makerspace at Anant National University, and his students of Integrated Product Design – Waseema Gavandi, Indrani Nagesh Kumar, Hridaya Joshi, Mayank Jaiswal and Amal Pagag – have identified this problem and worked on developing a health care product that focuses on addressing both issues of muscle stiffness and nerve compression.
“We have developed an affordable neck band using ultrasonic heat therapy combined with vibratory patterns that not only relaxes the muscles but helps increased blood flow to neck and help in repairing the strained neck tissues,” says Shah. The neck band consists of electro-magnetic vibrator motors whose intensity of vibration can be controlled using a voltage regulator. These vibrators are placed at the accurate pressure points on the neck such that they stimulate the pressure points. These vibrators relax the tensioned muscles and provide initial instant relief.
“The vibrators are enveloped by ultrasonic pads which produce ultrasonic heat waves when excited,” continues Shah. “These ultrasonic vibrations induce warmth into the neck muscles through these pressure points and relax the muscles, further increasing the blood flow through the veins and making the neck area get more oxygen from blood. This relaxes the muscles even further providing the user with ultimate relaxation at the neck.”
The main technology used in this product is ultrasonic heat waves with sound waves, which is a physiotherapy technique that uses production of endogenous opioids. The band is equipped with vibrators that produce low frequencies that stimulate the nerves at the proper extent such that the muscles are relaxed just enough through the production of these opioids. The cost of the product is less than ₹550.
To add to the project, students have designed an informatory app known as Pysiocare using which the users can connect to local doctors as well as find the solutions to problems related to muscle pain.Â
Hi,
I want to understand if the team from Anant national university had started producing these vibration neckbands yet? If so then how can i get connected with them
Dear Niladri,
Team haven’t started for the production, they have created the prototype of the belt which can be used to resolve the issue.
Regards