There was a time when patients with certain maladies had no hope of treatment to ease their symptoms. Thanks to advances in technology, many things that were once considered untreatable have had remarkable breakthroughs in treatments, and many of those treatments work by combining existing technologies into new combinations to create unique treatments. The result is new hope for patients and a new frontier in medicine of digital therapeutics.
There are currently video games designed to treat symptoms of Autism, Multiple Sclerosis, ADHD, Major depression, and more. These video games function by exercising working memory, executive function, and selective attention to strengthen a patient’s skills in the real world. Games are also under development to help fight Lupus, traumatic brain injuries, and more.
Apps are being used to treat addiction in conjunction with outpatient therapy, as there is a serious shortage of inpatient addiction treatment space on top of outdated treatment models. There’s also an app that helps chronic migraine sufferers rewire their body’s pain sensing systems in order to reduce the number of debilitating migraines they have.
Perhaps one of the most interesting developments is a treatment for Parkinson’s Disease that uses ultrasound waves guided by MRI to destroy the broken part of the brain producing tremors. Prior to the development of this technology, the best a patient could hope for was a slightly slowed progression of their illness through medication.
Therapies are still being developed for a wide range of medical conditions. Learn more about advancements in digital therapeutics from the infographic below.
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