WC Bioscience Accelerator Participants

At Mickey’s, we are building e-textiles that help movement disorders patients walk more efficiently.

Our first product in development, built for those diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, is a pair of comfortable, stylish compression shorts that deliver external cues to the user based on their gait cycle. Peer-reviewed research shows that regular usage of cueing systems can strengthen neural pathways that bypass the group of brain structures where neuronal communication breaks down in Parkinson’s disease. Thus, users can be cued to increase stride length and leg swing velocity, and to better regulate step cadence – all hallmarks of efficient, stable ambulation.

Parkinson’s disease is our first use case, but there is ample evidence that cueing modalities can improve gait in other populations where walking ability has decreased over time.

Currently, we are focused on enhancing the lives of early to mid-stage Parkinson’s disease patients by facilitating safe and efficient movement, and we plan to bring this technology to other populations going forward.

2020 PITCH DAY VIDEO