Raynaud's Disease - hand & foot-warmers

Thank you for all for the continued feedback & discussion.

@6ix // iab: I came across something called Heatbands, but they have seemed to have gone defunct. Very interesting though, wish I found it earlier – one of the only existing products that focuses on a indoors/hands-free solution. They go on your wrist and indeed treat Raynaud’s via improving circulation by reflecting the body’s heat. Unfortunately, mixed results from what I can find (second link) and they are not reusable.
http://www.business-opportunities.biz/2012/08/28/wrist-bands-maintain-hand-warmth-using-body-heat/
http://www.raynauds.org/support/forums/forum/messageview.cfm?catid=5&threadid=1248

iab: I am still early on in the process but I don’t want to close off any possible development avenues. Most of the medicines used for treating Raynaud’s helps by increasing circulation / expanding the arteries and blood vessels, so I can definitely see merit in a device that would do the same (without all the side effects and constant cost of buying). This project may later expand to Raynaud’s in feet, and there are some good examples of non-intrusive products in things like ankle gauntlets (below) that improve circulation. At the same time, I would want to avoid some of the hocus-pocus products out there that are related to circulation, although some of it is hilarious:

… made through scientific method refining. Powerful Bio-Magnets are embedded inside. They are specially crafted to produce a kinetic energy field enhanced by the centripetal movement of magnetic force and along with Tourmaline Fiber relies Far Infrared rays and Negative Ions which Stimulates vasodilatation of peripheral blood vessels …

@spatel: Thanks for chiming in, that is a great idea to depart from medical device/something artificial, and this could play into the expandable strategy constraint that we have to work in …

@Lmo: Your point about vibration is good … I was originally looking at helping construction workers specifically, whose prolonged use of power tools gives them Secondary Raynaud’s Syndrome or related Hand-Arm Vibration Syndrome, and in many cases permanent damage even after retirement. It seemed almost too specific though, not as much chance to expand beyond vibration-dampening gloves or vibration meters that go on the tool itself (though I could be completely wrong and missing opportunities).

Thanks again all, loving all this discussion. I have started making quick and dirty prototypes for seeing what is comfortable and a Philly-based company, Stockwell Elastomerics, was nice enough to send me samples of a thermally conductive silicone. Might have to venture into the cold to see what works :wink:

If you ever need a tester for this project, let me know. Would certainly be glad to help. I’ll definitely follow this project as I hope you come up with something to alleviate the pain.

Thanks 6ix, much appreciated! I’ll keep this updated and let you know how things are going.

Nice choice in problem to design for! I had raynauds issues a lot when I was younger. It only pops up a handful of times a year now. I know the best fix for me was to soak my hands in extremely hot water for a couple of minutes. I wonder if that can be replicated in a glove…

Also, interesting talk in regards to trying to fix the problem at the source. It’s probably not directly relate-able, but it would be cool if you could use a mechanism like a medical tubing pump (ex: http://www.buch-holm.com/en-GB/Assortment/Tubing-Pumps.aspx ) to increase bloodflow externally. Unforunately, the blood vessels near the surface of the skin are return and not send.

anyway, neat idea! I look forward to seeing how you progress with it.

Gotta love the Sky Mall on long boring flights.

Offered from Hammacher Schlemmer,

“The gloves exert a gentle compression and are lined with a patented material that facilitates blood flow throughout the hands …”

Now by no means to I endorse this product nor have any proof that their claim is true. But it is certainly worth the $50 to buy a pair and see what’s going on with them. They also have other glove products that could fall into your catagory.

Unforunately, the blood vessels near the surface of the skin are return and not send.

Great observation!

I remember my dad teaching me the trick of rinsing the underside of my wrists in cold water to cool off. Wonder if some sort of “back-of-the-hand”, open-palm (think hockey/lacrosse glove), slip on heating element might help? Powered by… ?

The direction is irrelevant. DVT compression pumps work by pumping the blood vessels near the surface and well below the surface of the skin. They are not intended to work on arteries. They increase blood flow, in one means, by decreasing back flow. That allows easier work from your arteries and heart and then increasing the blood flow.

Think of it as increasing the diameter of your exhaust pipe. Or adding a pump on your constricted exhaust to remove it quicker.

NASA’s work (and others) on spacesuit gloves might be a place to look for inspiration. NASA Tech Briefs is always a good place to look.

I was talking about a different kind of pump, but the topic of compression is probably a more productive one since you don’t necessarily need DVT level compression to achieve it. Perhaps gloves made of a compression fabric (as used for sports recovery by 2XU, etc) would increase the blood flow enough to stop the symptoms.

(I see the Hammacher Schlemmer gloves above… just need someone to test them. :slight_smile:

I understand you were talking about peristalic pumps. A compression pump works in the same manner, positive displacement to move fluid, just on a broader scale instead of working on an individual line like the peristalic.

You are correct that an arm sleeve for a DVT pump is complete over kill. I’d like to see a slim version on the forearm. But I’m not the prtoject manager. :wink:

that photo reminds me of Randy from A Christmas Story. hehe.

@iab - Thanks for the suggestion! I ordered a similar pair to those you posted and they do have an effect. It is not the largest change but I can tell that blood is flowing a little better in my fingertips (I’m using one on a single hand right now in a chilly room and it really does not get in the way too much, at least with typing, and I can feel that the fingertips on the wearing hand are warmer). I’m not sure if they would prevent a Raynaud’s attack outright on their own if I was having one, but they are at least an incremental help and the system would not be too hard to add to a direct warmer. Going to try exploring a forearm sleeve like you mentioned–my teacher also suggested a similar idea about integrating clothing with the technology so as to avoid having the solution being a completely separate device. A hand covering/wrist band would also be able to add some circulation and support for the warmer parts like the battery. Some directions to explore … and I will have to research more into pumping devices that you mention.

@jcharlesoo - It’s getting to that time of year for the annual Christmas Story showing :wink:

I’ve gotten some good findings from speaking with people who have it (not as many as I’d like, unfortunately), but also supplemented by a lot of posts online by people who struggle with Raynaud’s in an indoor setting:
http://s3images.coroflot.com/user_files/individual_files/original_365272_X2HcMgiPhthmM8pDQwzJmRyug.jpg

I’ve done a little testing on which parts of the hand to warm up, but would like to do more. My classmate suggested that I explore heating the palm and wrist directly, rather than the fingers, but it did not seem to work for me, probably because of the deep location of the arteries vs. returning blood vessels as mentioned.

Below are some of the earlier sketches, I’ll be posting some newer ones tomorrow. I can already feel some of these being a little too techie-looking for who I’m aiming at (now if I was trying to help Star Trek’s Borg…).

Some model-making:

Above: An idea for a folding warmer that can heat the entire length of the hand to fingertip, but folds to be out-of-the-way if needed (could stay folded with snaps, magnets, etc.), while still being able to warm the fingers if you make a fist. The green stuff is thermal silicone, doesn’t heat quickly enough to be the heating channel itself, but could work well with imbedded heated elements.


Ideas for a solid warmer that fits like a ring so that you can retain finger use. This is a foam model, and most people who wore it (myself included) felt that the solid ring part was constricting. Next step is a solid warmer with a flexible ring attachment.

Variations on the idea


Wrist and palm attachment

Do you have access to a university or teaching hospital?

You can actually measure changes in bloodflow with doppler ultrasound. A very expensive piece of equipment run by an expensive tech. I used such a device when working on a DVT pump.

But if you are a student and have access to a teaching hospital, you have excellent odds of having them help you (for free) with your project. When I was in school I was absolutely surprised at the level of support hospitals and healthcare professionals gave me. I saw dozens of surgeries, went on flight for life runs and had access to many other areas as well.

I called on the cardio-lab to get access to the doppler ultrasound, but different hospitals will place it is different departments, ymmv.

That is a great idea … did you visit the hospital in the later stages of your project (when you had a working prototype to test)? We have Brown University’s Alpert Medical School and Hasbro Children’s Hospital nearby.

Great sketches and process work!

Have you looked at passive cooling such as Phase Change Materials? I have a sample of a really neat mesh from Schoeller that has some nano particles of some sort of magic wax on it and its cool to the touch. I think it also works in reverse. Will try to dig a link up. The materials are generally called PCMs.

R

Thanks for the suggestion rkuchinsky! I see just browsing now that they are used in the reheatable gel warmers, and interestingly in the Coffee Joulies:

Definitely something to look at further

I visit the hospital in all stages of any project, I’m going to Loyola next week and a hospital in Texas later the same week, but that discussion is for another thread.

For the doppler ultrasound, we had working prototypes along with competitive pumps. That part of the project was a large PO and difficult to schedule. I needed the most efficient and effective way to gather the necessary data.

Remember, medical devices are more strict with their functionality. If you make a claim, like increased bloodflow, you must prove your claim. That is not only to satisfy the FDA, it is also to satisfy the clinician who will use or recommend the device. Otherwise you will find yourself in the hocus-pocus nonsense claims like the magnets you posted earlier.

Not to say you must have data, then its only a consumer product, and, atmo, a harder sell.

http://www.schoeller-textiles.com/en/technologies/schoeller-pcm.html

Evenly heated fabric. might be of help! :slight_smile:
http://www.diginfo.tv/v/12-0025-r-en.php

Samwl, awesome, thanks for the find! That kind of thinking might work very well for what my design might be.

Apologies for the lack of updates. I was spending a lot of time on the research but was sort of going in a loop, so I picked a direction to go with for the final critique and post it later for feedback (the project doesn’t end after the crit :wink: