Why Liftware?

If you treat patients with movement disorders, Liftware may be able to help. Liftware products are is designed to help people with hand tremor and limited hand and arm mobility eat more easily. Conditions that may contribute to hand tremor include Parkinson's disease and essential tremor. Conditions that may contribute to limited hand and arm mobility include cerebral palsy, spinal cord injury, Huntington's disease, and post-stroke deficits.

Is Liftware right for my patient?

Liftware Steady

Liftware Steady works most effectively for people with mild to moderate hand tremor. The tremor causes people regularly to spill food while eating, or leads people to bring their heads at least halfway towards their utensil to meet food.

To see if Liftware Steady is right for your patient, you can download this simple test (PDF) for your patients to take. You can also watch videos of people using Liftware Steady.

Note that Liftware Steady provides limited benefit to:

  • People with intermittent tremor.
  • People with severe tremor, large-amplitude tremor (above 12Hz) or dystonia.
  • People whose hand tremor does not interfere with eating, or who spill only rarely when using utensils to bring food to their mouth (typically tremors below 4 Hz).

The amount of benefit will also vary depending on factors that affect the intensity of a person’s tremor at any given moment (such as medications, sleep, stress, and exercise).

Liftware Level

Liftware Level works best for people who can move a utensil from the plate to their mouth, but have difficulty controlling the angle of a spoon. The amount of benefit will vary depending on factors that affect the intensity of a person’s motion and control at any given moment. These factors may include the use of medications, amount of sleep, degree of stress, intensity of exercise, and natural variation of motion deficits that may be related to certain medical conditions.

How effective is Liftware?

Liftware Steady

Liftware Steady has been shown to be effective in an eleven-patient clinical study. During the study, eleven subjects with essential tremor performed three tasks — holding, eating, and transferring objects. When the technology used in Liftware was turned on, tremor amplitude was reduced by an average of 72% in the holding task, 76% in the eating task, and 71% in the transferring task. These statistically significant results mean that Liftware Steady is likely to make eating easier for people with hand tremor. The study was peer reviewed and published here: A noninvasive handheld assistive device to accommodate essential tremor: A pilot study, Pathak, et al. Movement Disorders, vol 29:6 (May 2014).

We also published and presented these findings at the 2013 American Academy of Neurology conference, and were honored to be featured speakers at the meeting. From one doctor.

“I believe that the [...] device can benefit many of my patients. For those who choose to use it, the system represents a non-invasive method to improve greatly patient’s lives and increase overall independence.”

Jill Ostrem, MD, Associate Professor Medical Director, UCSF Surgical Movement Disorders Center.

Liftware Level

We worked to develop Liftware Level with patient advocates and their families to help those with limited hand and arm mobility retain dignity, confidence, and independence. Our user testing showed positive results for how Level can make eating easier for some people with limited hand and arm mobility. We will update this page with scholarly articles on Level as they are published.

Try out Liftware

If you’re interested in trying out Liftware for your practice, please contact us at support@liftware.com for more information.