Technological interventions for the suppression of hand tremors: A literature review

A tremor is a neurological disorder that results in trembling or shaking in one or more body parts. A thorough literature review was conducted to investigate the methods for suppressing tremors. We looked for articles published between 1995 and 2024 in the databases CINAHL (Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature), PubMed, Medline, Embase, Scopus, and Cochrane. Two thousand two hundred fifty distinct items were discovered after an extensive search. Based only on the title, 250 were included. Two hundred papers were deemed ineligible after the abstracts were assessed. The remaining 26 articles were shortlisted after screening titles and abstracts and categorized based on treatment methods for hand tremors. According to the study's findings, deep brain stimulation (DBS) and electrical stimulation both reduced tremors considerably. It was also evident that attenuation systems and passive devices lessen the effects of tremors; target tracking tasks can lessen physiological tremors in postural posture; ET may have better hand functions after cold water treatment than warm water or at baseline; and targeted ultrasound thalamotomy is an effective treatment for ET, as it improved quality of life (QoL) significantly. Additionally, the design, development, and evaluation of wearable devices and pharmaceutical interventions for tremor suppression were investigated in detail. The main objective was to perform a comparative analysis of the merits and demerits of both treatment methodologies in terms of functional outcomes, users' comfort, and side effects. The review highlights wearable devices as a beneficial option for tremor suppression, offering comfort, safety, and advanced technology over pharmaceutical intervention methodologies.