Inventor aids self, others

One of the problems with Parkinson's disease, as North Raleigh inventor Mike Tucker found, was the symptom known as "freezing."

Those afflicted can at times lose control of gross motor movement and are de facto paralyzed, if only for several seconds.

NextStep is a device that is designed to prevent freezing episodes while walking.

NextStep fits over the end of a cane and, as pressure is put on the device, a spring-activated bar pops down as an obstacle to force the walker to step over the bar.

The disease limits the sufferers' production of dopamine, interfering with the electrical impulses the body uses to control muscles.

Sometimes uncontrolled electrical signals can cause muscles to seize up, causing the freezing phenomenon.

Freezing, also known as motor block, can occur in the later stages of the disease and happens most often in doorways or when a person reaches a perceived barrier like a line in the floor.

It's an embarrassing part of the disease and can leave Parkinson's sufferers unwilling to leave their homes for risk of seizing up in public, Tucker said.

It's also dangerous -- victims are more prone to falls and injury when frozen.

Solutions to freezing include stepping on cards laid on the floor or using a laser pointer as a focal point to walk toward.

What a device like Next Step does is provide an obstacle that allows the mind to focus on walking.

So far, it's not completely understood how any of these methods unlock freezing.

Tucker was diagnosed with Parkinson's in 1996 and as a result, left his job at Risk Management Associates, a company that he founded after leaving the Raleigh Police Department.

After leaving, Tucker invented the NextStep in his wood shop as an aide to his own freezing problems.

He now has a patent pending for NextStep and has begun to sell the device from home through his Web site: www.icanstep.com.The device retails for $349 and comes with a cane and a repair kit.

For more information about Parkinson's, visit: www.pdf.org.